Adentures of Team JPN, a RWBY Fan Fic
by SkyBreed
Summary: <html><head></head>My very first shot at a novel/fan fic. Edit: There will be a new chapter everyother day on week days. Mon, Wends, Fri. This series focues on James a Huntsmen in training attending his first year to Beacon Academy. He meets up new with and sometimes clashes with Team RWBY.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_**AN: Chapters 1-11 are pre wrote chapters so anything you want me to add will have to come at a latter date, sorry! **_

_**As a safety precaution: I do not own RWBY or the characters!**_

'_It didn't matter. I was going to wind up either here or as a merc anyway. May as well spend my years in huntsmen training._' Thought James. James was your average combat school student; he wanted to fight monsters, with or without a team. He stood just less than six foot at five-ten. Fair white skin with black hair; with an orange highlight on his one bang that fell over the right side of his forehead. He was wearing his usual plain black T-shirt and an Orange vest that was unzipped with faded jeans and black street shoes. '_How bad could beacon be? I'm sure I'll get a team but maybe I won't like them. Ah, what ever! Let the chips fall where they may, I'm usually lucky enough to tip the scales to my favor._' He thought. The airship carrying him and all the other first year students attending Beacon was due to arrive in seconds. He looked over to notice a blonde girl who was what looked like hugging but could also be strangling a girl in a red hood. '_The girl in red looks a little young… Well, combat school graduates are getting younger and younger. Maybe some kind of prodigy? What ever, I'll leave them be._' James looked to his left, a blonde guy looked extremely nervous like he was going to puke. "Hey, you alright?" James put his hand on the kid's shoulder. "No." The kid said swiftly looking for a place to puke, unfortunately he didn't make it all the way to the trash bin and got a small amount of puke on the blonde girl's shoes. '_Gross._' Was James' only thought. As both girls (the blonde and the one in red) were freaking out about the puke, James prepared for landing.

James was stunned when he arrived at the school; it was bigger than he thought it was. "Amazing isn't it?" A voice came from behind him and slightly to his left. It was a Faunus girl… With two traits: ears and a tail. She wore a dark purple vest and a long sleeve hoodie with dark blue jeans with white sneakers. She was just an inch shorter than James; she also was a small bit tanner than James. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude; but I haven't seen very many Faunus with both traits." "Yes, well I don't see many men with orange highlights." '_Touché.' _ Thought James. "I'm Noriko by the way." She said with a smile. "James. Nice to meet you." "Shall we? I mean, I'm a fan of the scenery and all but, we should find a spot before the opening ceremony starts." Noriko said with an extended open palm. "Agreed." The two set off to the main hall. KA-BOOM! An explosion made James and Noriko both flinch. "Dear god! What was that?!" James yelled in surprise. James looked back to see the girl with the red hood standing next to a crater talking to a girl that had an ice blue dress, and near transparent skin. The girl with the dress was holding what James could only describe as a vial of 'something'. "Well. That's certainly something you don't see often." Noriko spoke up. "Hey, uh, Noriko was it? You go on ahead, I want to go check out some more of the school." "Well, all right then. Shall I save you a spot?" "If you would, I will owe you." James replied with a smile. With a wave James wondered off. First he wanted to visit the gardens, he liked the peace and tranquility.

It was a short five-minuet walk to the gardens from the central plaza. James had quite a while until the ceremony started. He decided to just sit on a bench and listen to the sounds around him. He heard steps on cement, it was nearby. A girl in a grey hoodie and a black combat skirt was walking over to one of the fountains. She sat down and pulled out a book from her bag and began to read. '_I wont bother her, she's here to enjoy the silence and peace of this garden the same as me._' A metallic shuffling caused James to almost leap from his seat on the park bench. James looked across the Garden to see the blonde guy with the girl in the red hood who was holding a giant scythe. '_Seriously! What is with this girl? I'd hate to be on the wrong end of that thing._' James himself was quite proud of his weapon he had made in his time at his small combat school. His weapon was a katana, with a surprise; not only was this a katana, it was able to morph into a revolver that carried seven shots per magazine. The ammunition it fired was a custom built 44. Caliber round imbued with dust to make an almost ice like effect on impact, the bullet would splinter outwards making spikes to impale its target, a brutal weapon to have in an arsenal. James shifted his focus to the girl in the grey hoodie. She was gone. James checked his watch, just about time to start the ceremony.

James made his way back to the entrance where the ceremony was held. Noriko waved him over to where she was. "So, how were the gardens?" Noriko asked with a laugh. "Well, for starters I keep running into the girl with the red hood, she has a giant scythe for a weapon by the way. Then I saw someone else. Someone completely different. No introductions, just watching. I felt a… Vibe I guess you'd call it. I could tell she would look over to me when I closed my eyes." "You sure about that? It could just be your boyish imagination." Noriko joked. "No. This, this is different." James was completely hung up on it. James heard a girlish scream; it was the girl in the red hood… Standing next to the blonde girl and the ice queen (James had decided it was a fitting nickname). "That girl can never catch a break can she?" James thought out loud. "It seems not." Noriko answered back with a smile.

The head master came out and delivered his speech. Professor Ozpin was a strange man, James was fond of him, something about him just gave him the impression of peace; although the way he gave his speech was like he wasn't even there. Kind of lifeless.

Before he knew it, James looked out a window of the main hall to see nightfall. James scanned the room. Of course what he found was unsurprising, the girl in the red hood, the blonde, ice queen, were all standing around someone talking. A miniature fistfight broke out, more comical than anything. "Oh, hey James!" Noriko walked over to where James was standing by the window. "Hey." James said plainly. "You should really get some sleep. You'll need it tomorrow." '_Sleep is what is keeping me awake._' James thought to himself. "I'll get there eventually. Oh and tomorrow, don't wait up for me. I'll be done before you can blink." James said with a mischievous grin. "We will see. Have a good night." "You too Noriko." James laid down on his make shift bed consisting of a sleeping bag, one blanket and a pillow. Some where in the room James heard a book shut. James thought back to the girl he saw in the gardens. Before he knew it, James had drifted to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, seriously the amount of views I received in less than 3 hours of the upload blew me away! I didn't expect even one person, but wow, I must say. Thank you all so much! (Safety Precaution: I don't own RWBY or the Characters) (Also, I upload on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!)**

James flinched in his sleep. Tossing and turning constantly. Finally he rolled to his back, still in a state of panic. James breathed in deeply several times. "I'm good." James stared at the ground. James was awoken by a classmate whom had rushed over and shook him until he woke up. " Man, you were thrashing about, I didn't look to good, but remember no matter what you saw, just remember it was a dream." James looked up at the man, terrified. "Thanks… But… That wasn't just a dream…" James looked away. He looked out the window, almost full morning, and sun on the rise. "What? No way." "I've… I've seen things that no one should ever have to see." "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aaron." "I'm James." "Would it be better to talk about it?" "About wha-" James caught himself almost forgetting his dream in his morning haze. "I… I-uh…" James swallowed hard. "My family was torn apart by Beowolves…" "I'm… I'm sorry for your loss." Aaron stepped back in shock. "I may have been too weak to fight then. But now, now I have the power. I will defeat creatures of grim until I send them to the void. I will push them to extinction. I will cage them, make them feel the same terror I did." "That's some heavy stuff there man. Just don't do anything reckless. You may be stronger, but alone you don't stand a chance. I'm not trying to put you down, but, hell sometimes I can barely take a Beowolf alone. Don't go down the road of darkness. Stay true to the light." "Thanks…. Thanks for listing to me Aaron. I don't know the last time I was able to speak my mind." "No problem dude. I'll see you in the combat zone maybe?" "Just maybe. Don't get your hopes up." "Right. Well, in any case, I'll see you around." "See you." James said in a cheery way, already over what he saw in his dream.

Ozpin had given his instructions: Land in the forest, meet your teammate (who was decided when you make eye contact with the first person you meet) and get to the temple at the end of the forest, retrieve an artifact and get back to the cliff. James was first in the line of launch pads next to Noriko. "I'll see you down there?" Noriko said with a smile. "If you're lucky." James said as he was shot off of the platform. Noriko steadied herself, she looked to her right. A girl in a grey hoodie and a black combat skirt put down her hood. Long flowing golden hair came falling down her pale white face, coming into full view of everyone. Noriko didn't have time to react; she was launched off the platform.

James smacked a tree on his way down after swinging off of a branch higher up. '_Gotta work on the whole 'landing' thing._' He thought to himself as he brushed off his clothes. James was now wearing a Kevlar suit of black armor with matching plate legs with a long orange stripe down the entire right front side. James had hardened this Kevlar suit to resist a full attack form an Ursa, although it was never field-tested. James heard a noise from behind, rustling bushes. James quickly moved his katana from sword to pistol and loaded three normal rounds into it. "Show yourself!" James shouted into the bushes. A Beowolf came out from hiding. Scars lining its body, thick frontal armor. It looked like it had no intent to fight. The monstrous Beowolf just stared at James. It howled and walked away. '_No way. How… How did he? Why did he?_' James had a flash back to his past. After his parents were killed a Beowolf, with almost identical scars to the one he had just seen, stared him in the eyes and walked off. Almost calling the others to follow him and leave James alone. James was over ridden with anger. James loaded his revolver with four Dust imbued bullets and spun the chamber slamming it back into his weapon. With a battle cry James fired all seven shots at the Beowulf. All shots missing except for the last one, which hit the monster's back. The bullet exploded into spikes killing the Beowolf instantly. "James?" A voice came from behind him. He walked over to the dead body of the Beowolf, ignoring the voice fully, and ripped a tooth out of its mouth before it vanished into smoke. He focused on the nature around him. He spoke, to no one in particular. "This is the beginning of my vengeance. I will hunt down those whom I can recognize from that night. And rest assured, I will collect a tooth from each one, weather they be dead or alive." James stabbed his katana into the ground causing a pool of ice to form around him. James reached down and put his full hand on the ice. "James?" The voice asked again with a slight tremble. "Noriko. You made me wait." James spun around with a smile. This is the first time Noriko see James truly happy. '_What… Is this odd feeling? I like his smile…. A lot._' Noriko thought as she clenched her fist trying to summon herself back to reality. "Noriko?" James asked noticing the clenched fist and her tail whipping back and forth. "Oh! I... I ah… I was lost in thought?" James cocked his head in confusion eyebrows raised. Gun shots. Not ones James recognized. "Lets get moving. We need to get to the temple. I'm sure the ice and smoke will attract more creatures." James said looking Noriko in the eyes just to confirm they were partners. "All right." The two sprinted in the direction they thought was the correct way.

Eventually, after almost fifteen minuets of running they reached the temple. James quickly scanned the temple for traps. None were present. '_A piece is already missing. But just one. Someone has already been here. We need to move quickly._' "Grab one and go!" James called over to his partner who was examining the pieces. Noriko picked up the Black Bishop piece. "Back to the cliff." They said simultaneously while looking each other in the eye and nodding. Noriko unbuttoned two pouches on her thigh and produced two throwing knives with a round hilt. James heard the sound of a tree falling and a yell of a very large Ursa. James ran in the direction of the sound with Noriko closely behind. The two stumbled into a clearing in the woods. A huge Ursa stood over a body. James was the first to attack sending two normal bullets into the back of the Ursa while Noriko was next, throwing one of the knives into the Ursa slicing it with the tip and using the two knives as a deadly fan blade, constantly spinning. The Ursa yelled with pain, sweeping its giant claws at Noriko. It missed and felled a tree. James flanked around it and stabbed the Ursa with his ice blade making it freeze instantly I place. James ran over to the body that the Ursa was standing over. It was the girl in the grey hoodie. She was bleeding heavily from the chest and left leg. James quickly ran over to the fallen tree and collected the biggest leaves he could find and getting some stringy bark from the tree and made makeshift bandages. "Will she be okay?" Noriko said standing over James who was tending to the wounds. "Lets put it this way. If we don't get medical attention to her _**now **_she will bleed out." Noriko staggered back in shock. James had no choice at this point. "Listen to me." He told the girl who was bleeding out in front of him. "I have no choice. I'm going to lower you body temperature with my sword to slow the flow of blood." The girl looked at him, fearful. James picked up his sword and made a very small prick in the girl's right index finger. The wound that was open on her leg immediately stopped bleeding. While this was all happening Noriko was puking in the background. "I need water. Noriko do you have any?" Noriko rummaged through her gear and threw him a water bottle, never before opened. James treated the wound on the girl's leg and bandaged it. '_This girl is in hell right now; and I'm going to walk her out._' James picked up the girl in his arms and started to jog back to the cliff side with Noriko in tow.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_**AN: I split chapter 3 into 2, one of which is a 3.5 chapter, because I felt that the segments needed to be split, it makes more sense that way (or at least to me) so I hope you enjoy this chapter as a whole despite the rare occurrence! **_

James was sprinting through the forest as fast as he could, the girl in the grey hoodie still in arms. '_This isn't good. The blood flow may have slowed, but it won't last long. This could end very, very badly._' "James!" Noriko shouted to James to call out an approaching Nevermore. The Nevermore was massive. "He doesn't see us." James said crouching below a tree just off of the path. "But…" James continued. "… He can sense us." James stood up right and continued walking and slowly progressed to a jog, then to a sprint. The Nevermore was circling back around. Nevermores were armed with razor sharp feathers they could throw off their wings when they wanted to. James heard gunshots, large caliber rifle rounds. Someone was distracting the Nevermore. This was James' chance to get to the cliff. Not even a quarter mile remained until they reached the cliff. It was in plain view, only obstructed by what small amounts of fog were in the air. "We can make it!" James yelled back at Noriko who then quickly sprinted up to run beside James. A hovercraft was waiting at the bottom of the cliff. Most likely to ferry students up to the top. Regardless the reason it was there, James was over joyed. James stopped and slid a few feet. "Noriko get her on the transport." "What? You aren't coming?" "I'll find a way up. Now go!" Noriko nodded and carried the girl onto the ship and it lifted off. James felt its presence. Several Ursa accompanied by a Death Stalker was on approach to James. They smelled the blood of the girl. Weapon at the ready, he was prepared to sacrifice just as much as that girl was to save his comrade and her. James sat on the ground, spinning his pistol chamber several times, until he herd a familiar click. The click was the pistol hitting a dust-imbued bullet to notify when one came up. James stopped spinning his pistol; He was down to only one dust imbued bullet. The first to come into sight was a Beowolf, not very strong looking, most likely a scout. James quickly rotated the pistol chamber to select a normal bullet and fired striking the Beowulf down in a single hit. James was saving the bullet for the Death Stalker. A horde of Beowolves came from the trees into the clearing; one by one he shot them as he approached. The clicking sound of the dust bullet being loaded surprised James. James quickly switched to close quarters combat, rushing to defeat the next Beowolf. James saw a flash from his left and was knocked into the cliff side by an Ursa. James hit with a thud, knocking the wind from him. He staggered to get up, still dazed he charged forward jamming his blade into the first moving thing he saw. Attempting to jump back from his initial strike he was then again beat off by the Ursa. The Death Stalker came tearing though the tree line, and charged straight after James; who was still on the ground. "Oh no you don't!" a voice yelled. A cloaked man struck the Death Stalker drawing its attention. The voice was very familiar. James began having flash backs of the muscle bound tan guy who had woke him up from the dream earlier during the day. "Aaron duck!" James threw his sword at the Death stalker, managing to impale it in the right claw, freezing its entire right side. "My turn…" James said under his breath. James sprinted forward grabbing his sword, ripping it from the Death Stalker's claw. The Death Stalker focused its stinger on James. James quickly reverted the katana to a pistol, awaited the click and put his last bullet into the Death Stalkers head. "Okay, time to go you two!" James heard a voice from above him. The person had grabbed him and Aaron by the collar… And was going upwards? Noriko Semblance was Glyphs, matched with her speed she was able to hop glyph to glyph up the cliff with a man in both hands.

With all three of them up on top of the cliff, they were the first team to reach the top (plus Aaron). Ozpin congratulated them, while Aaron asked to be launched once again from the platform to reunite with his teammate. Ozpin gave him a quizzical look, but agreed. Aaron stepped onto the platform and was launched, his hood falling back as he looked like he was almost flying but in reality he was just falling with style. Noriko and James looked at each other and nodded, both in agreement. They were off to the hospital to check up on their female friend who had been severely wounded.


	4. Chapter 35

Chapter 3.5

The two had arrived to the hospital after changing out of their gear. The hospital was quite large, especially just for an on campus medical facility. "Ozpin sent word that you two would be coming. Unfortunately you can't go see her. She has been in a coma ever since she arrived. If by any chance she does wake up, it will be a miracle. Luckily the person who bandaged her and slowed her blood flow knew what they were doing and pretty much saved her." James cleared his throat. "So, is there anything you can tell us about her?" James asked not trying in the hardest to be subtle. "Well, for one; she is alive. Due to a lot of patient protection laws, we cannot let you in on anything that relates to race, family, or any other extremely personal matter. But, overall she is making improvements; however, she will need to make an extreme increase before she will be able to wake up. She had lost so much blood and her body is trying at its best to make more." "How long do you estimate it will be before she can go to her classes?" James was intent on making this girl's recovery as smooth as possible. "Hard to tell. Even with the aura she has just received, she hasn't used her aura before, it could take only a few days, but maybe it could take weeks. I would only go as far to say a month would be enough time." "All right. And you say there is no way we can see her?" "Well, there is a way…" The nurse trailed off.

"You would have to have the doctor's say so as well as Professor Ozpin's." "That's quite alright with me, so long as they don't get too over attached." Ozpin and the doctor were behind Noriko and James. Ozpin had a small smile on his face. "You will most certainly have enough time to bond later, seeing as you three are on the same team." "But… Sir, isn't there supposed to be four members per team?" Noriko asked stunned. "Hum, well yes. But this seems to be a different matter. There were an odd number of students this year, and the three of you all picked the black bishop piece on top of that she didn't meet a single person along the way." James remembered back to the empty plinth where the second piece should have been placed. "So, its just the three of us then?" James asked. "It seems so." Ozpin answered back plainly. "Well doctor, what do you think? I'm pretty confident these two wont do anything irrational. I say we let them in to see their teammate." "All right. I see no harm in it."

The nurse walked over and opened the door for everyone to enter. James and Noriko were the first to enter the plain white room. The girl was on the bed in a surgical robe (standard for all patients). The moment James entered the room her heart rate began to increase. "Uhh… What's going on?" James asked with a slight hint of fear in his voice. "That's odd. She has never done that before…" The doctor answered walking over to her and checking her temperature.

'_Thanks for saving me, I owe you quite a bit I suppose._' James fell to his knees clutching his head unused to this strange voice that was no in his head, giving him a small head ache. "Whoa. James? You okay?" Noriko and the doctor asked simultaneously. "I… Can hear her?" James said confusedly. "You're kidding right?" The nurse asked sitting beside the girl. '_My name is Paige by the way. You must be James. Although I can't see your face I can feel your presence._' The voice echoed through James' head. James grunted clutching his head again, growing more used to the voice. "Would you like to translate for us James? For some reason she doesn't seem to want to communicate with anyone else." Ozpin said with a mischievous smile. "Her name is Paige, and she can feel my presence in the room." Ozpin scratched his non-existent beard. "Paige, if you can hear me, what is my name?" Ozpin said sitting next to Paige. Ozpin rubbed his temples. "I see. Well, if you please, feel free to wake up at anytime, there are some people here who would very much like to meet you." Ozpin said to Paige's body. '_I would wake up if I could! Its not like I enjoy being here not being able to see anything.'_ The voice sounded frustrated this time. The heartbeat monitor again was showing spikes. "Hey. Its okay. I know you're ready, but take your time. Come back to us when you are truly ready." '_I __**am**__ truly ready. But the blood loss must have taken a bigger toll than I thought. You know, I heard them say I was supposed to be dead. Not the best thing to hear while in a comma believe it or not._' James just rubbed his temples this time; the more and more the voice came the less painful it was. "So?" Noriko looked at James and asked. "She wants out as soon as possible." James said with a grin. "Oh and by the way, you really should watch what you say near a person whose semblance is Telepathy." James looked at the doctor. "Oh… ah… yeah, sorry." The doctor nervously scratched the back of his head. James missed an angry comment from Paige most likely directed to the doctor. '_I hate to keep you here just for me, if its any help, I'd like you to go to the dorms and find our team room and get it… Some what set up._' "I'll take my leave then." James said out loud. James turned to Ozpin. "Have you assigned out team rooms yet?" "Actually yes, number 567 is Team JPN's room. Have fun, team leader." Ozpin said looking to James. James walked out the door and Noriko followed. '_Team leader, eh? Oh boy, this could more or less go south very quick._' James thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

'_Where am I?_ _Oh… That's right. I'm bleeding out in the Emerald Forest. An Ursa came from out behind a tree, using its cub as bait. So, this is the part where I die, huh? There is so much I wish I could re-do. Including yesterday when I was at the garden. I could have at least introduced myself. He probably got the wrong impression. Well, I guess I wont have to live with it for long.' _ Paige's vision started to fall to black. A yell came from her right, through the tree line and two gunshots rung out. Paige's vision returned, save for the tunnel vision she had due to loss of blood. Paige blinked, or what she thought was a blink, the next time she opened her eyes the Ursa was frozen standing straight up and the guy from the Garden was collecting leaves. Paige blacked out again, when she woke back up she heard someone vomiting. The guy from the Garden was standing over her with his weapon drawn. Her eyes shot open with horror. "Listen to me." He said. He had a soft and tender voice the one of a nurse from a hospital. Paige was quite fond of his voice, though it wouldn't last long. "I have no choice. I'm going to lower you body temperature with my sword to slow the flow of blood." He said with a serious face. Paige had never seen anyone with this face before; this was a face of passion but also worry. The guy picked up her right hand and pricked it with his sword. Paige felt a surge of cold go through her entire body, some of the pain went away, but even with the cold the pain was still almost too much to handle. The guy had called the person next to him for some water. She passed out once again because of the pain and blood loss. '_The pain is gone… Why? Am I finally dead? Did that guy's efforts go to waste? I'm sorry… I really am. Wait…_' Paige woke up from her blackout to see a hospital room and her surgical robe on but blacked out once again, this time falling into a coma. Minuets had past… Or was it hours? Days? Months? Paige couldn't tell, the coma she was in clouded her perception of time. Although she did lose more than fifty percent of her blood, making anything more or less hard. Paige was exhausted, what could a little sleep hurt? '_I may as well make use of my situation...' _Paige was intent on riding this coma out in a nap. Paige felt a familiar force come near her. Her heartbeat sped up. '_This is the guy! The guy who I neglected to greet, the same guy who saved my life!_' Paige thought. '_I would give anything to talk to him at least once!_' Paige decided to use her semblance for the first time in a long time. Paige was able to successfully talk to the guy, she found out his name was James and he was going to be her team leader.

Paige's eyes fluttered open, she was finally awake after so much time in a coma. She looked around; she realized she was still in the same room from when she first woke up before she went into the coma. There was someone else in the room. A fairly handsome guy sitting next to her on a chair, asleep. The man had one orange bang coming down over his left eye. "James I presume?" Paige spoke up. James shot awake. "My god… You're actually awake." James let out a large sigh of relief. "You looked different in the forest." Paige said with a childish grin. "Look who's talking." James laughed back. "Yeah, definitely not my best look. I guess I should properly thank you…" Paige trailed off trying to think of a way. "Don't worry about it, we're teammates now. Plus, I'm your acting team leader so I'll gladly put you before myself." "I… Ah… Thank you?" Paige wasn't sure what to think. "Don't mention it, hey; I'll be right back. The nurse probably would like to know you're awake." James walked to the door and turned back. "And also, welcome to Team JPN." He said as he walked out the door. Paige smiled, hearing that she was on the same team as her 'savior' made sure she had the chance to pay him back. The nurse soon came in the door. "So, sleeping beauty is finally awake?" She walked over to a counter opposite Paige's bed. She shuffled some paperwork and came back around to Paige. "Is there anything that you need? Water, food, bathroom?" The nurse asked the last one jokingly. "Actually some water sounds amazing at the moment." The nurse smiled nodded her head and walked out of the room.

'_I guess this is… one of the better ways to come out of a coma?_' Paige questioned herself. James walked back into the room. "So, uh… Do you want your homework now, or later?" James asked with a laugh. "Preferably later. Y'know, once I get moved in and everything." She replied with a smile. "Sounds good to me. But, really it's all easy, I could teach it, and that's saying something." Paige giggled. "You're that bad at schooling?" "Well… Ah… I mean… Uh… No?" James, to Paige's surprise, was actually contemplating his work. Paige giggled again. James let out an exaggerated sigh to add to the joke and relive some stress trying to make a good first impression. "So where is the girl that was with you?" "Oh, your teammate Noriko. She decided to stay at the dorms and study." "You've came here everyday then I presume?" James scratched the back of his head. "Yeah…" He started. "I just kinda felt… I don't know, I kinda felt like you were my responsibility I guess." Paige was speechless. "You… You didn't have to." Paige managed to say. "And leave you here alone in a place you barely know? I don't think so. Listen, now more than ever, you're one of the most important things to me. Being a leader isn't just some title people give away, it's a huge roll that must be played each and everyday even if you don't want to. It's something that I have to pay attention to." "I…Uh… Thank you. Please continue to take care of me." Paige looked embarrassed as she said this. "Even if I didn't want to I would." James smiled.

The nurse walked back in with a plastic transparent cup filled halfway with water. "Here you are." The nurse placed the cup on the fold over table that was now over Paige. Paige took the cup in hands and drank the contents of the cup. "So, the head master instructed me to give you a few things in advance to prepare for your class work." James walked into the hall and returned into the room with a clothes bag and a black box, big enough to carry five notebooks, but wide enough to carry two laptops. "What's in it?" James opened the box. "In here, you have a few textbooks, your scroll and I.D badge." James lifted the clothes bag to bring attention to it. "This should be fairly obvious on what's inside." Paige nodded. "So you should be all ready to return to class once they discharge you from here, although…" James laughed. "It looks like you're pretty comfortable here." Paige smiled at him. "I guess I am, but I hope the beds in the dorms are a bit more comfortable than this." She pointed to the hospital bed. "They should be." James replied with confidence.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Paige freshly released from the hospital she was in was eager to go see what her new dorm looked like and check out her bed, which she hoped was better than the one at the hospital. James was walking with Paige to the dorms when a text came in from his communicator. _'James, hurry back to the dorm. New news four our team. –Noriko.' _ "We should probably hurry back to the dorms, Noriko says there is some news for us." James said to Paige in a clam tone. "Sure, but lets just not run, okay?" Paige asked half jokingly and half serious. Paige, while being released from the hospital was still to weak to preform any physical activity but class work she was still capable of. The two hurried to the dorms located next to the main halls and south of the classrooms.

James was the first to enter the room quickly followed by Paige. Paige was imminently taken by surprise at the size of the room and lack of decoration. "Needs more décor." Paige blurted out. "That's why I made Noriko wait for you." Noriko poked her head out from a closet. "Hello again!" She said waving while half in the closet half out. "Hi." Paige replied. Noriko walked out of the closet and to her bed where she opened a black box placed on it. "Seeing as we're the first ever three person team at Beacon Academy, the decided to give us different uniforms as well as higher grade scrolls." "What?!" James was shocked. "Well, I say higher grade, but I just mean fancier ones." James was rubbing his temples sitting on his bed. "I'm returning the equipment and uniforms." James stood up and said. "Why?!" Noriko said in absolute shock. "We don't need anything to make us stand out to the rest of the crowd, and think, why the hell would Ozpin give _us_ better equipment, and not the best team there is? I mean, yeah Ozpin is an amazing man, but this still seems to extreme to me. He would never just hand out things like this." James at this point was convinced it was all a test. There was a knock at the door. James opened it and to his surprise stood the head master himself. James suddenly got very cold and nervous. "Good afternoon sir, what can we help you with?" James asked. Ozpin smiled. "It seems, you James were faster to figure out my little scheme faster than your comrades, as well as a few other teams. Thank you for the kind compliments by the way." Ozpin had a smile on his face, one very unmistakable; it was a smile of gratitude. "The fact that you would go so far as to return equipment just for the sake of not standing out, shows that you have the potential to lead." James was shocked, but he didn't dare show it. "Thank you sir, truly." "But, I will offer better lodging for miss Paige due to the injury. If that is what she desires." Paige ran it through her mind; she didn't want to separate from her team. "Sir, if it means leaving the team's collective dorm, I decline. I owe a sincere debt to James as well as Noriko. I could not stand the thought of just leaving them after what they have done for me." "Very well then. James." Ozpin turned to James. "It seems you have teammates willing to follow you to any battle you lead." "Thank you sir, I'm very lucky and greatful to have them both on board." "So it seems. Well, with that, I'm afraid I must return to work." "Thank you for your time sir." With that Ozpin left the small dorm room and headed back to his office. "Well… That was a thing." Paige added. "Oh, I forgot. Ozpin also left a note on your bed Paige."

Paige walked over to her bed and picked up the note. _'Due to the severity of your injury, I would like to give you this mattress, given it is softer and hopefully will be more comforting than the ones in the Medical Bay. This is a gift; it is yours, no strings attached. Enjoy. –Headmaster Ozpin.'_ Paige smiled. This was a great gift given to her; she had never really received gifts. "While we're all here, there is something that I need to say." Paige cleared her throat. "I… I-I'm a Faunus." Paige could barely stutter out her words due to her previous years when she was young. Noriko ran over and tackled Paige onto her bed. "Show me!" She commanded with excitement tail flicking back and forth and ears twitching. Paige very nervously messed her hair, to reveal two rabbit ears. "They're _so cute_!" Noriko said while admiring the ears. Paige still had a very nervous look on her face. James pinched the bridge of his nose, looking for clarity on the subject. "Okay. First, Noriko; get off the poor girl and quit slobbering all over her. Next, while a surprise I have no quarrels with you being a Faunus. In fact I was raised in a Faunus community. Lastly, there is no reason to be afraid of being a Faunus, it makes you all the more unique." Paige was surprised by the acceptance of her team leader. By this time Noriko had already gotten off of Paige and was sitting on her own bed. "Just, please can we keep this a secret?" Paige asked. "Why?! You're obviously cuter with the ear-" James wacked Noriko over the head with his hand to stop Noriko from going any farther. Noriko looked at James with puffed cheeks and a pout. "We wont say a word. But, I do recommend being more honest with yourself, being a Faunus means you should be fond of your inherited trait and not be afraid of it." "Or two." Cough Noriko from across the room, flicking her tail for extra emphasis.

Paige was born into a Faunus labor camp, she was often beat and tortured for things she didn't even do. One day, Paige was able to escape because of a riot against the owners and guards of the camp. The owners weren't supposed to be there, it just happened they had arrived one day and gave the Faunus the upper hand.

With the night winding down everyone got ready to retire for the night. "Ground rules are as follows." James started to say. Noriko booed from the other side of the room. "If I'm in the room, please use the bathroom to change, take a shower when it is _your_ turn, and lastly if you have a romantic relationship with someone and want to bring them to the room, feel free to bring them but keep it appropriate okay?" Paige and Noriko both nodded, it seems that James got his point across. "I have a question about the last rule." Noriko said. "Okay, what is it?" "Are we allowed to date teammates?" James did a spit take to the side. Coughing James tried to regain his composure. "That is entirely up to you." James tried to keep his professionalism despite the awkward question. "Okay! Just wanted to know!" Noriko said cheerfully. _'Just what is she up to?'_


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_**A/N: Honestly wow. Already at 310 views from last I checked and we aren't even close to starting this thing! That is truly amazing; I want to thank you all for your continued support of the series!**_

James sat on the Beacon cliff, meditating in the bone chilling cold and wind. "James?" A voice came from behind James, disrupting his intense focus. James turned to see a familiar but shivering face. Paige. "What are you doing out here?" She asked almost having to yell over the winds. James stood up and walked over to his teammate. "Thinking." He simply replied. "Why? What about?" Paige bore a concerned face. James put his arm around his freezing teammate's shoulder and gestured to walk back to the school. "It's nothing to worry or concern you." He said smiling. "Noriko has an announcement." Paige started. "She wanted me to come out here and get you." James raised an eyebrow.

Winter had snuck up upon Team JPN, classes taking up almost all of their time, only leaving time for late night chat sessions, which mostly consisted of notes being borrowed and written down and comparing homework answers. James had always enjoyed winter, every spare moment he had was either spent with the window open, or sitting outside in the freezing temperatures. James' semblance had finally been revealed to him in Glynda Goodwitch's class when they went over semblance. James was able to summon and control ice. He was very fond of this skill and decided to embrace it and meditate when he could. James though that if he could make some connection to ice and weather, he could better understand how to use it.

James was the first to arrive into the room meeting a nervous glance from Noriko. Paige quietly came in behind James shutting the door. "I guess I have a small announcement to make." James again raised his eyebrow. James quickly glanced over to Paige to see if she knew what was going on, she had a very nervous and almost blushing face. This left James puzzled. "I…We…I mean… Ah…" Noriko couldn't find the right words. James cracked a small smile. "Me… and Paige… Ah… We are…" James raised his hand to signal that no more had to be said. "Dating?" James said with a grin on his face. Noriko hesitated and nodded. James turned to Paige, she did the same. "Congratulations, oh and by the way. I already knew." Paige and Noriko both looked at James puzzled as he went and sat down in his office chair next to his desk. "How?" Paige was the first to speak out. "Faunus aren't the only ones with sensitive hearing. While, yes I do sleep very deeply, I couldn't sleep. So yes, I saw and heard the whole thing." The two looked deeply embarrassed. "The confession was cute." James said with a mischievous grin. James pulled out a file and quickly scanned through it, then put it back away. James then reached into his bag pulling out several papers. Homework to be exact. The two girls were still standing looking at James. "So, you're going to act like nothing happened?" Noriko asked, with a hint of disappointment. James scratched his chin as if pondering the question for a moment. "Yes. Why shouldn't I? I knew it was going to happen at sometime or another." James answered flatly. "I just thought this would be weird for you." Noriko still dazed continued to figure out why James was so indifferent about this all. "While I may or may not have _had_ feelings for one of you, I'm happy for both of you. It's actually a good match. So, don't worry about me, yeah?" Noriko nodded. "…Yeah." With a smile James returned to his work. The other two sat down on their respective beds just staring at each other. Only five minuets had past, and the girls still sat there looking at each other, neither wanting to move from their spot to disturb their teammate. James planted his face in his palm. "Just sit on the same bed." James said with a slight hint of annoyance. Shocked again by what James had said, the Paige walked over and sat on Noriko's bed next to her. The two started talking back and fourth and working on paper work assigned by several different classes. _'Finally peace.'_ James thought to himself.

James woke up with a cough, looking at his hands, palm and backs. "Must 'a fallen asleep while doing home work." James mumbled to himself. James looked at the clock. 22:28. With a yawn he got up from his chair and went to have a shower, noticing the two girls asleep cuddling with each other as he retrieved his clothes. _ 'They are cute together.' _James reminded himself as he stumbled to the shower. Unfortunately for James, the showers were located down at the other end of the hall. The two girls had for some reason banned James from using the room shower, on top of the fact that James didn't want to wake the couple up.

"-Maybe some of us were tired of getting pushed around!" James heard a voice coming from the Team RWBY dorm. Blake Belladonna burst out of the room, stopping with shocked eyes to see James, then took of sprinting down the hall, tears in her eyes. _'What the hell?' _James thought to himself. James knocked on Team RWBY's doorframe to signal that he was there. "Come in." A voice came from inside. James pocked his head into the room. "What was that all about?" James jerked his thumb in the direction that Blake had run. "It's none of your business." Weiss said angrily. James' eyes shot from girl to girl trying to read their facial expressions. James shrugged and removed his head from the room and continued his walk to the showers.

James looked out the window that was just before the men's shower that overlooked the main courtyard. James saw something odd. Just before the statue stood, what looked like a student? The figure removed something from its head… A bow. _'Now who wears a bow that attends…. Blake….' _James squinted even harder seeing a pair of what looked like ears on top of the figure's head. James eyes widened. _'She's a Faunus?! Well… That two new exciting things to count up for today.' _With that James was finally able to take a shower, without further interruption.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Despite the insanity that was last night, James was able to sleep. James had decided that he would go help Ruby look for Blake if she had not yet returned. James followed out his ordinary routine that consisted of throwing a pillow across the room to wake up the two lovers whom always fall asleep and never seem to want to wake up, rushing to be the first in the shower, and then finally going to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. Although, normally waking his two teammates go of without a hitch, this time how ever took quite a bit more to wake them up. Using his semblance he continually cooled the room almost freezing his teammates out of bed. They both woke up with a shudder, Noriko shooting James a death glare and slowly getting out of bed, trying her hardest not to wake Paige from her comfortable sleep.

"You know she likes to sleep in." Noriko said accusingly. "If neither of you woke up, you would _both_ be late for classes as well as have no time to eat. Think of it as a nice cold alarm clock." James laughed.

After eating breakfast James had to focus on course work. Currently he had no classes to attend seeing as he was always ahead of his classes, which today were going over previous lessons making sure that the students who didn't understand it were able to work through it and solve the problems. Then it struck James, Blake still hadn't came back. _'I need to go see how I can help.' _ James quickly decided for himself. James pulled out his scroll and quickly typed a message to his teammates explaining where he was going, then quickly stood up making his way out of the large cafeteria. _'I should go check with her team, see where she may have went… but the reception I got from her teammate: Weiss, is enough to deter me and make me go search myself.' _ James decided that dealing with Ice Queen this early in the morning was a little strenuous, even if he was looking for _her_ teammate.

James boarded a transport to Vale, even if Blake was sprinting at full speed, she would be smarter than to go out into the wilderness. James arrived in downtown Vale, a quite nice place in winter; the shops all selling peppermint items with holiday lights strung throughout the stores and windows. This was the first time James ever saw Vale in full swing.

Growing up, James had lived everywhere, including the other kingdoms as well as the forests. As the traveling merchants that his parents were, he really didn't have anyone who called him a friend. Despite never having friends, he always made enemies. His parents told him not to worry, that he wouldn't have to deal with them for lone, because they would be on the road again. Despite the advice, James took every word very seriously.

James continued his search on the rooftops, his agile abilities were above average and his eyesight matched one of the best marksmen to walk the four kingdoms. James eyed every street at least twice, then caught glimpse of his prey, a girl with a black bow. Unfortunately she saw James first and sprinted away. "Wait! Blake, I want to talk!" James tried to yell while hopping rooftop to rooftop. James spotted a nearby snowdrift and dived into. James landed in packing peanuts. After climbing out of his newly acquired enemy substance he tracked Blake spotting her once again turning a corner. _'Cats can only sprint in short bursts; over time I should catch her. Although that may be different for Faunus seeing as they also posses human traits.'_ James rounded the corner to find Blake resting on a wall. She looked at James with wide terrified eyes. "Wait…" James panted. "Hold… On… Just a minuet." James was clearly out of breath at this point. With a gasp of air he turned his focus to Blake. "Blake, listen: Your teammates are worried about you. They have no clue where you are, they're scared. They think you could have hurt yourself." "How do I know I can trust them? Trust you even?!" Blake yelled the last question at James. "Because: They're your teammates. You never abandon a teammate, regardless of their race, back ground, or other wise!" James tried to not yell and keep as calm as possible, while keeping his voice soft trying to appeal to Blake. "For all I know, Weiss wants me dead!" Blake shed a single tear. James put his hand on Blake's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Weiss would never want that. She dislikes the White Fang, not you Blake. She is very cold because of what happened at an early age. She isn't used to being on a team. Give her time Blake." Blake paused for a moment as if she was letting the words sink in. "How do you know all of this?" "If you realize it or not, I'm pretty much there to over hear every argument. Taking two showers a day really opens up your world." James smiled. "So you even herd the one about… Our clothes?" Blake turned a shade of red. "Unfortunately so, but only a few seconds of it, I had other things on my mind." James admitted. "I-I see…" Blake stuttered out.

"If you want even more reassurance that your team cares about you oh so dearly…" James walked over and whispered in Blake's ears. "Yang is in love with you." James took a step back to let the words sink in. "That's… That's impossible, Yang is…" James cut Blake off.

"No. She's not. The way she stares at you, the way she talks to you. You mean to tell me you never noticed?" "No… I never…. Wait- How can I be sure you aren't lying?" "Ask her yourself." James pointed with an open palm to Yang who was approaching Blake from the other side of the alley. Yang embraces Blake without saying a word. A few moments passed. "I was so worried about you…" Yang began. "Please. Never leave us again like that." Blake tightened the embrace. "I'm… So sorry. How did you know I was here?"

James jumped back in the conversation. "Hi again, that would be because of me. I messaged Yang saying I was looking for you and sent out a tracking beacon onto my scroll so she could find me if I stopped for more that five seconds." The two broke from their embrace. "Thank you a lot James. I don't know how I could repay you." Yang said with very noticeable gratitude. "All I ask is your approval and friendship." Yang nodded. "Of course." Blake spoke up. "So… Was he right? Do you like me?" "I love you more than anything in the world Kitten." Yang said with a very meaningful expression. The two embraced again. "Well, I'll be on my way." James said wanting to give the two now-lovers some privacy. "Thank you so much again James." James signaled a goodbye and activated his cloak and jumped away.

_**A/N: I don't want to be one of 'those' authors but every review helps me figure out what you want to see in the future and how I'm doing! Please feel free to leave one!**_


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_**A/N: We are almost caught up to where I stopped writing (Chapter 11) and I may or may not be starting a job soon so releases will be a bit of a challenge BUT I WILL PERSIST! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this one!**_

James woke up to his scroll beeping and flashing a light in his face. James quickly opened the scroll to see what had happened. A message… From Yang. The message read: _'Party with Team RWBY and JNPR, Team JPN invited. Again thank you. I promise it will be a Pun-derful Night! – Yang' _James face palmed at the terrible pun at the end of the message. "Who was it?" James had not realized that Noriko was awake already. "Yang. They're having a party and wants us to come." James replied flatly. "I don't know if I'm going to go. Paige was sure sneezing a lot in her sleep, she may be sick; she was also hotter than usual." "Don't make assumptions. Lets wait until she wakes up." James replied.

It took the better part of an hour for Paige to wake up. "Morning…. Achoo! Morning guys." Paige sniffled getting out of bed. "See?" Noriko pointed out. "Allergies?" James shrugged. Noriko walked into the washroom and opened the medical cabinet and retrieved a thermometer then cleaned it. Paige still groggy sneezed a couple of times before Noriko got back. "Here, Open your mouth for me." Paige did as she was told. "A fever of 103. See? I told you she was sick." James rolled his eyes at Noriko. "Guys, I'm fine. Achoo! Just a little head cold, just need to get up and… Achoo! Up and moving." James got over trying to get the two to go seeing the state that Paige was in. "No. You need to stay in bed today. Sleep will do you the most good."

James went over to his desk and pulled out a few things. James picked up Paige's cup filled it with hot water and added a herbal tea bag into it. "What are you doing with my cup? What are you putting in it?" "Not to worry, mother showed me this, it was quite incredible when I had a cold." James placed the cup next to Paige's (and now also Noriko's) bed. "Its peppermint tea, I also mixed a few spices to it, I call it 'A taste of winter'. Careful, it's still a bit hot." Paige picked up the mug and just held it, trying to smell the sweet aroma despite the stuffy nose. "I'm going to go pick up breakfast, any requests?" "Bacon!" Paige yelled with excitement then started to rub her temples from the headache she just gave herself. James cracked a wide smile. "What about you? You need to eat something too." "Just some eggs will be fine." Noriko replied. "Alright, I'll be back later.

James casually walked to the cafeteria meeting Ruby on his way. "Mornin' Ruby." James said with a smile. "Ah, hi James." "Going to the cafeteria?" "Yeah. I suppose you are too?" "Yep! Paige is sick, so I'm going to bring some food back to those two." "Those _two_?" Ruby questioned. "Oh right! You haven't heard yet!" James looked around to make sure no one was listing. "Not entirely sure I'm supposed to tell you but, Noriko and Paige are dating now, and Noriko is super protective of Paige." Ruby nodded her head. "Well that's cute. I think they make a good couple." "Right?" James agreed.

The two made small talk until they reached the cafeteria. "I'm going to go eat with my sister, see you later James!" Ruby said hurrying off to go sit with Yang. Yang saw the two walk in together. Yang winked at James, which he replied with crossed arms and an extreme face of disapproval while shaking his head. Yang laughed at this of course.

James finished his plate of eggs and pancakes rather quickly; James walked back to the line and picked up Noriko and Paige's breakfast. James also ordered a small helping of bacon, which he placed in a small paper bag with a note saying: _'Just don't tell Noriko about this. –James' _James started his trip back to the room.

James arrived back at the room and opened the door as quietly as he could. What he saw almost made him laugh. James tried to hold the laugh in as best he could at the sight of Paige being held by a sleeping Noriko. Paige was squirming trying to find away out of the death grip that Noriko called snuggling. Paige looked up from where she was and mouthed to James: _'Help me!' _ A large quiet laugh came from James as he set the platter of food on the bedside table and handed Paige the paper bag. James held his index finger to his lips to signal not to make sure he got his point across about the bacon situation. "I'm going to go ahead and go to the Team RWBY dorm, make sure to tell Noriko when she wakes up." James whispered to Paige who just nodded her head for confirmation.

James walked out the door to get to the RWBY dorm, where his night of 'fun' would start. Noriko woke up and released Paige from the death grip. "Noriko?" "Yes?" Noriko answered groggily. "Why do you always want to keep me under close guard?" "Because I love you more than anyone on this planet. I refuse to let you slip through my fingers…" Noriko drifted off. "Did something happen before?" Noriko let out a sigh. "A year before I came here to Beacon, I had another girlfriend. We went everywhere together, did everything together. One day she went home early because she had a job interview the next morning. I had offered to walk her back, but she declined, she said she would be okay…." Tears started to form in Noriko's eyes. A tear slipped down Noriko's face. "…She… She… ah… was hit by a dust delivery truck. The doctors told me she… had died before she even hit the ground." Noriko looked away from Paige a face full of regret and a few tears. "I-I… I should have gone with her anyway." Tears were now rapidly falling, some hitting the bed sheets under her. Paige embraced Noriko, Paige pulling in Noriko tight. "I _will never_ leave your side. I promise you, I'll be here, for better or for worse." Paige whispered.

James and the two Teams met in Vale and decided where to go. "I know a really nice club we could go to!" Yang suggested… Loudly. "Well, if we're going to get shot at, no thank you. If you don't mind, I would like to spend the night without bullets whizzing past my head." Ren spoke up. James found this odd, Ren didn't seem the one to talk much; every man is entitled to his opinions though. "Don't worry! While Junior does own this club, he doesn't over see it!" Yang gestured her hands to get her point across. This was going to be an interesting night.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**A/N: 500+ Views… THAT IS SO MANY PEOPLES READING MY STORY. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! Seriously opening that traffic page and seeing the sheer amount of people just blows me away. I want to do something special but don't know what to do. If you have an idea shoot me a pm! Also don't forget to tell me what you want to see in the future!**_

The troop consisting of Team RWBY, JNPR and James begun their walk to the club that Yang suggested for their night out. Nora quickly grabbed at Ren's hand and proceeded to hold hands with him. James raised an eyebrow at this. Nora noticed and turned releasing Ren's hand. "We're not together, together." She said while poking her two index fingers together almost nervously. "Come on you two." Yang had noticed Nora and James had fallen behind.

Nora rushed back up to Ren, again holding his hand. James caught up with Weiss and Ruby who were closely following Yang. Yang was having a conversation with Blake. "So… Uh Weiss, about the other day… We cool?" James asked trying to avoid as many land mines as possible. "Yes. I wasn't thinking straight, sorry for yelling at you. You just wanted to help. Thank you by the way, for you know… finding Blake." "No worries. So, how has she been since then?" "Things have cooled down for the most part." "I see. That's good I guess?" "Yes, actually thanks to you Blake and Yang have a stronger relationship than we thought." "I see. Well, that's good. Just by looking at them you can tell they have a strong bond." "Just don't get too friendly with my sister back there." Yang hopped into the conversation. "Yang! N-No that would never happen!" Ruby replied quickly. Yang cracked a huge grin and laughed to herself. "So, James! How has your team been doing?" Weiss asked trying to spark a conversation trying to save her partner from utter embarrassment. "We have our ups and downs, just like any other team. We're pretty coherent though." "I see." Weiss said trying to sound interested.

The group entered the club, the music instantly filling the air. James noticed Blake flinch a little bit as soon as the music hit her ears. Despite how harsh the music was to Blake, she just grabbed Yang's arm and smiled. _'That's nice, that's really nice. She would do anything for the person she loved.'_ James looked around and immediately noticed Nora was gone, most likely some where on the dance floor. The remaining members of Team JNPR went to the bar, getting a bit bold they ordered alcoholic drinks while Team RWBY went to booth and sat down.

James finally decided (after standing in the door way looking awkward) that he would go and sit with Team RWBY. "So James, I hear that you're the one responsible for hooking up Blake and Yang." Weiss said. _'Oh shit. Now, I'm really gonna get it.'_ James laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I suppose I did do that didn't I?" "Well I think it's nice!" Ruby blurted out. "Aww! Thanks sis!" Yang gave Ruby one of her signature bear strangling hugs. "Yang… quit it… I can't breathe!" Ruby tried her hardest to make it out of the death grip Yang had on her. Ruby tapped James arm a few times trying to get his attention. "Yeah?" James looked over and asked. "If you didn't know you're one of the main reasons we're having this party. I just wanted to know if you're having fun." James pat Ruby on the head, which gained him a raised eyebrow, from Yang and Weiss. "If I wasn't having fun, I wouldn't be here." James turned his gaze to the rest of the people at the table. "Seriously, thank you guys for inviting me out here, it really means a lot." "Don't worry about it, as far as were concerned you're part of the team too!" Yang said with excitement. James again scratched the back of his head. "Maybe that isn't such a good thing…" James said under his breath. "What was that?" Ruby asked trying to get confirmation on what James had just said. Ruby knew quite well what James had said, as well as why he said it. Ruby knows about James' dark past, but just about everyone Ruby knew had some sort of darkness in their past.

Eventually James began ordering alcoholic drinks, which he had no idea what was in them, not even realizing the alcohol in them. At one point James just laid his head down on the table, the music not even bothering him as he slowly drifted away. "James!" Ruby yelled in James' ear. "I'm sorry what?" "Are you OK?" James looked around and noticed that everyone was missing from the table but them. Everything was a blur; nothing had one solid shape or color. "Ruby… I… I fine." James was unable to speak properly. Ruby took as sip of James' precious drink. "Oh my god. James you're drunk." "Pffff, what non sensesh." James' speech became slurred. "We need to get you back to your dorm." Ruby said with a concerned tone. "Peppermint… Winter… Roses." James started saying the first thing that comes to mind. Ruby slung James' left arm over her shoulders in an attempt to get him outside and on his feet.

The two finally made it outside after stumbling a few times. The air was frigid, able to bring James back to reality somewhat. "Ruby." James looked over to his savior whom was taking a break leaning on the wall. "Yes James?" "I think… I think I… I may be slightly in love with you." James dropped his head. "I… I can't explain it… But I feel… Happy when I'm with you. Secure." James gripped his shoulders. "No James, I don't think you are. I think the drinks got to you." James moaned loudly. "Say…. Say, say what you want, but once I'm sober… I-I tell you again." James blacked out.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_**AN: Finally we hit double digits, thanks for reading so far! Remember I'm always looking for constructive Criticism!**_

When James finally awoke he was in his dorm and a familiar few faces looking over him. "He looks really sick, what did he do at the party Ruby?" "Well, it started out normal, but then he ordered drinks he didn't know were alcoholic and kept drinking them. He must have a really high tolerance to it." James without opening his eyes put his index finger to his lips, indicating for them to be quiet. "What do we have for headache meds?" James asked rubbing his right temple. "Just some of the over the counter stuff that isn't very effective." Noriko answered. James' eyes shot open. Wide eyed he sprinted to the washroom that was in their dorm.

James began throwing up. "I haven't felt this bad since my first kiss." James mumbled to himself. James noticed Noriko lean on the doorway and lean her head in. "I would never of guessed that the lover boy got sick on his first kiss." Too weak to respond James just slumped against the wall. "You know…" James started. "I think I told Ruby last night." "Told her what James?" James just stared so intently at the floor as if he was trying to burn a hole in the tile, ignoring Noriko's question. Ruby looked through the doorway to check on James. "You doing OK?" Ruby asked quietly as not to pain James even more with his headache. "If you count puking and it hurting, I'm perfect." "Well, get better soon James, I have to get to classes. Is it okay if I come check on you later? Possibly after lunch?" "Sure, what ever. I don't mind at-" James was cut of by a surge of puke that over took him flinging him into the toilet to expose of the unneeded waste. James was shaking just enough to notice. "All." James finished his sentence that was so abruptly cut off. "Okay then. Bye James." Ruby turned out of the room nodding to his teammates before leaving; gagging at the sight of James spilling his guts as she left.

"She says goodbye to you but not us? Rude." Paige said with a joking huff. James interpreted everything as serious. "She's fine." James started. "Just a little socially awkward. One of her many, but cute quirks." James tried to stop himself before he got to the word "Cute" but couldn't stop himself in time. "So brother bear is into little red ridding hood?" Paige laughed. "Well, I think it's cute!" Noriko countered her date's words. "Hey, my next surge may be directed at you and not the oval office here." James dared, slightly embarrassed just enough to see on his face. Both girls imagined it and recoiled in disgust.

James laid in the dark and silence, not thinking a single thing. There was a knock at the door. "It's unlocked!" James yelled, bringing back a slight headache. The door swung open to reveal Yang, Weiss, and Ruby. Yang was the first to approach James. Yang leaned over to James and whispered. "If you ever do anything funny to my sister." Yang loaded a shot into her gauntlets. "You get the idea." James looked at Yang with a quizzical look. "Note taken. Not sure what you mean, but note taken." Yang rolled her eyes and backed away from James. "So, how are you feeling?" Weiss asked staying an appropriate distance away. "In a word: Crap." "Still that bad, huh?" Ruby asked. "What ever I drank was potent, true I can hold my own, but this time I think it got to me."

Ruby looked around the increasingly familiar room; bare walls save for a few pictures and a single poster over James' bed. "So… Uh…. Any news from you side of the world?" Yang asked scratching the back oh her head trying to seem coherent. "The only new thing I learned is the doctor is going to kill me if I do this again." James replied sitting up. "You left the room?" Ruby asked in surprise. "Of course I did, I'm not completely helpless here. Just a little… Green around the gills for a lack of better terminology." "You still shouldn't be moving around, it would just make you worse." Weiss shot back. "Well, truth be told at this point I'm to exhausted to move anywhere for a while. So no worries there." James reassured the group of girls. "I just noticed, but where is Blake?" "With Sun, I have no clue why, but she is." Yang replied coolly. "So where is the rest of your team?" James raised his hand and lifted his first the fingers and visually counted down. _3…2…1._

Noriko and Paige burst through the door as James' put his last finger down. "Right there." James finally replied to Ruby. The girls from RWBY all cracked a smile as Noriko and Paige entered the room with quizzical faces. "We're freshly back from a small mission!" Paige answered excitedly raising a plastic bag in the air. Paige put the bag down on James' desk accidently letting something tip out. It was a leaf. "What is that?" Yang and Ruby said in unison. Weiss walked over and looked at it. "Mint." She said simply. "Now what could you possibly do with that?" Yang asked staring at James intently. James sat on the side of the bed and opened a drawer on his bedside desk. James pulled out a small knife and proceeded to cut two leaves into thirds and placed it in a plastic bag. James nodded at Noriko who then took the bag and filled it with hot water.

"This is so odd." Ruby admitted under her breath. Weiss leaned over to Ruby. "Mint as healing properties to the right people. Everyone reacts differently to it." She whispered to Ruby. Noriko stirred the bag for a moment then putting the contents into James' mug and setting it on his desk. "You know." James started. "I really feel out numbered." James pointing out he was the only guy in there. "Is it a problem?" Weiss asked with crossed arms. James shrugged. "I don't think so. Or at least I don't _seem_ to think so." "Then why point it out?" Weiss asked with a hint of irritation. "Simply because I don't think anyone gave a second thought about it." James smiled. "Either way, I'm fortunate to have you all as friends."

"You aren't so bad either." Yang lightly punched James in the shoulder. James let out a small laugh. "You all must be bored just sitting in here looking at my sickly face. I'm not forcing you to be here." Yang nodded and tried to discretely point her head at Ruby. To which Ruby replied by hitting Yang in the shoulder. "I see. Well feel free to leave at anytime, with Paige and Noriko here…" "James, they're gone." Weiss cut James off. James planted his face in the palm of his hand with a slap. James just sat and shook his head. "Where do you think they went?" Ruby asked. "Most likely the library. They have a project due soon, while I'm in the same class I had finished already." James answered. "Well, I need to get going, we have a test soon and I want to study." Weiss said waving good-bye and walking out the door. "I should probably go find Blake." Yang quickly caught on to Weiss idea and dashed out of the room leaving Ruby and James in the same room. "Well, that was interesting." James said looking over to a red faced Ruby who then silently dashed out of the door leaving a small trail of rose pedals. "Back to sleep then." James muttered to himself as he fell back asleep.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_**A/N: I seriously can't remember if I uploaded anything yesterday (Halloween) so I'm just going to upload a chapter now… I seriously can't remember . Also make sure to read my other fan fic that I'm working on for Sword Art Online! It's a feel fest, trust me! =3**_

"James, you never told me where we're going yet." Ruby said as James was dragging her around Vale. "That's the point. It's supposed to be a surprise." Ruby put on a pout, which James blatantly ignored. James stopped in front of a store, it was a bakery. "Alright, here we are." James said sounding proud of himself. "You brought me to a Bakery?" Ruby gasped. The two walked in. "Pick anything." Ruby was smiling so intently it could have blinded a passing man with sunglasses. "Anything?" She asked excitedly.

"Anything." James repeated with a smile. Ruby shot across the store… Straight to the cookies. Asking the store clerk for a few of each type. James felt happy to see Ruby enjoying herself so much. Ruby walked to the counter with her order in hand (well both hands actually) with James close behind. "That will be 60 Lien." James happily handed over the correct amount with a few extra. "Sir, you gave me a little too much." "Keep it. Retail is not an easy occupation. Thank you." James said walking out with Ruby.

"Gah! Yang what are we doing here?" Weiss asked with extreme annoyance very clear in her voice. "I'm watching my baby sister. If that man tries anything, I'll rip off his…" Yang cut herself off as she saw the two walk out. "Get back!" Yang whisper yelled. "I get why you're here, but why did you have to drag me along?" "You need to socialize. Plus, you're her partner!" Weiss gave an annoyed look at Yang, who just shrugged it off.

"Thank you so much James." Ruby said still holding a smile as bright as the sun. "No worries. I just thought you might want to come check out the town a little bit. Plus I wanted to learn more about you." "Uhh…" Ruby had a suspicious look on her face. "I mean, like what kind of music you like, where you came from, or even your pet's name. I dunno, I just feel like we're friends but I don't know a thing about you." "You aren't very good with talking to people are you?" Ruby asked playfully. "Got me there." Ruby let out a small laugh. Some how James knew this was going to a long after noon.

"See Yang? Nothing to worry about, those two are just having a bit of fun." Yang was still unimpressed by Weiss' comment. "I don't trust it. Something just seems off. My sister senses tell me so." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose to decide how to deal with the yellow haired ball of fury. "Why don't you just go ask him?" "Ask him?! You think would actually work?" Weiss shrugged. Yang sprinted out from the corner barreling towards James. At the last second James ducked and rolled to one side while Ruby just stepped aside to see the ball of fire that was her sister. "What do you plan to do?" Yang yelled at James. "What?" "What are you doing with my sister?!" Yang looked like she was going to be James to a bloody pulp. "Yang, hold on a sec here." James quickly processed the words and the situation. _'She thinks this is a date. Time to start digging my way out of this one.'_ "Let me explain, although it was supposed to be a surprise."

Yang put her hand on her hips checking her watch for a dramatic effect. "Go on, I'm waiting." James sighed. "Alright, I was planning to go around town with Ruby for a while until dinner came so I could treat my _friend_ to dinner, as you know I'm not around her at all and I wanted to learn more about her, eventually it would have been the rest of the team. I was trying to do something nice for all of you one at a time." "Oh." Yang scratched the back of her head nervously. How often is she going to do that? "So now that my plans have been more or less disrupted, I guess you and Weiss can tag along." James said pointing out that Weiss had arrived on the scene. "Blake can come to if she pleases." James offered.

Yang and Weiss exchanged looks then an annoyed Ruby spoke out. "Yang, why do you always do this? Why must you always get in between me and the person I like-" Ruby tried to cut herself off but was too late in doing so, leaving James in shock while the blonde took a defensive side to the conversation. "I just want what's best for you. I want to protect you." Yang said softly, embracing the capped girl. "I know. It was dumb to say. I'm sorry." Ruby managed to squeeze out.

"Well, that was… A thing." James was at a loss for words. Yang popped her eyes open even wider than they were realizing James was still standing there. "I'm sorry for my misplacement of faith and trust in you." Yang looked serious, James didn't like it. "Hey, cheer up would you? A sad Yang just looks odd. It doesn't suit you at all." Yang suddenly filled with energy gave James a thumb up. "You got it Mr. Orange." "Well Yang, now know that you little sister is safe thus ending this pointless excursion." Weiss commented. Yang nodded and started to walk away with Weiss. Weiss scolding Yang the moment they started leaving.

"Ruby." James started. "Y-yes?" "Your sister scares the hell out of me." Ruby let out a small laugh, either out of nervousness or the joke the James just said, it could have been both. "She's a good sister though." Ruby commented. "That's for sure. You two are really close I take it." "Obviously." Ruby smiled. "Yang can be over bearing sometimes, but she is a good person." "Wait." James started. "Did they think this was a date?" Ruby's face turned red. "I-I think they did."

James started to laugh. "Careful Ruby, your face is going to be the same color as your hood if you keep that up." Ruby punched James in the arm. "Not funny." Ruby pouted. "I thought it was. Anyway, so where would you like to go?" James said checking his watch. Ruby just sat down where she stood in the frozen grass. While there was no snow, it was still cold enough to freeze grass.

"You okay Ruby?" Ruby shook her head. "I'm so confused. I don't know who to be, I don't know what to do." James nodded his head in understanding. "Ruby. Just be you. You don't have to be anyone else; you don't have to prove yourself. The only thing that matters is your thoughts, how you feel about things." "James." Ruby began. "I have feelings for you. I can't describe them, but whenever I'm close to you I feel secure, like no one can touch me. When I'm with you the world just disappears and all that is left is you and me." "Ruby I…" "James, please. Please let me stay with you." The hooded girl was struggling with her words, trying to find the right ones like an extremely complicated puzzle. James knew the consciences of letting people get too close to you: They all disappear and leave you stranded amongst a sea of difficulty and confusion.

Before James could even react to Ruby's confession she was sitting on top of him. "I'm not getting up until you say yes." Their faces inches away, they could feel each other's warm breath. "There isn't a 'no' option is there?" "Nope." Ruby said popping the 'p' in her response. "Of course I'll let you stay with me. Just please don't just decide to throw me into the flames on a whim." "I would never." Ruby replied with a warm smile. James felt this smile at his very core. A feeling he hasn't felt in a long time. For once in a very long time James felt truly happy. "Let's go eat." James said with a smile. Ruby jumped up pumping her fist. "Yes!" "So, what restaurant are we going to?" "Restaurant? Who said anything about that? I home cook all of my meals." James said with confidence. "Is it best sugar cookie good?" Ruby pointed to the bag of cookies James had bought her earlier in the day. "Even better." James smiled. "Then let's go! We're wasting time!" Ruby was already a block away by the time James was able to get to his feet. _'This is the start of something new. Something better. This innocent red hooded girl has shown me a softer version of the world. One I couldn't live in without her. I do believe its quite apparent now, that I James huntsmen in training of Vale, student at Beacon Academy, love Ruby Rose.' _


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_**A/N: Quick few announcements, bear with it please! I'm going to be rewriting chapter 13 to make it a bit more appealing, so if I don't get this out by 11/5/14 you can blame it all on that, but in the mean time, I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you like video games becoming reality, go check out my other fan fic! Thank you all for the support! Also one last thing, should I make a twitter to take more open requests for maybe future fan fics and what people want to see happen with the current ones? You get to decide, I think it would be helpful! Sky OUT!**_

Ruby and James were on their way back to Beacon where James would prepare dinner for the two. "James?" "Yeah?" "Are we… Dating?" James laughed quietly. "I guess that all depends on you." "I want to be." Ruby said as she leaned on James.

"WELL MR. BOYFRIEND, LOOKS LIKE I HAVE TO CUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP OFF EARLY!"

A roar ripped through the air like a sharp knife cutting into a cheese wheel.

Seven hooded men were in front of the two. "This is where you die…James." The man in the front of the group laughed. _'Shit! They found me. Damn it! I thought I lost these guys. The laughing Coffin, no more than mere murders who want to bring Grimm into every city to watch the death of innocents! Cowards!' _ "Ruby." James started. "Run. I want you to go to the dorms; I want you to stay there. I also want you to alert Ozpin as well as my team." Ruby took a step back in disbelief. "James… I… I can't leave you here!" Ruby tried to plead with James. James unzipped his jacket and threw it off to reveal his Kevlar battle armor underneath. James placed both hands on her shoulders. "Ruby." James looked right into Ruby's silver eyes. "Go." Ruby hesitated for a moment then nodded. In a flash of rose pedals Ruby was gone.

"Right. So who's first?" James said with a devilish smile on his face. James knew the secret of throwing off many opponents, to smile the whole time. James drew his katana from his sheath. The man on the very left began a charge straight at James, followed by the man on the far right. James parried the Charge and slid under the second attacker. "You're organized for a bunch of murders. I'll give you that." A third man swung at James who deflected it with his sword and froze the blade forming ice along the attackers arm.

The other four men had disappeared, gone from the plane of existence. Almost like the expected this. One of the men lunged at James with a direct stab, swiftly moving out the way James put his sword through the recovering man's back and leaped away from the group of now three. The remaining three picked up their dead brethren and sprinted away.

'_The hell? This can't be that easy.' _A bullet whizzed past James' head causing him to turn to see the one they called 'The reaper of all souls', one of the most brutal killers of his time. "James, I've come for you. You can either surrender and be executed, or fight me. Which surrendering will make you look like a coward." "Do you want to be a coward in front of your girlfriend?" The Reaper said point to Ruby. James' eyes widened in shock and sprinted as fast as he could to get in front of Ruby like a human shield.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?! I told you to get back to Beacon!" "No!" Ruby protested. "I'm staying here with you to fight this guy!" "Gah! Ruby, this guy won't give up, he will fight until he dies. There is no defeat!" The metal masked Reaper started walking towards the two. "James, I'm going to kill you, then kidnap your girlfriend here, who will be my toy for as long I want, then I will execute her."

"Gah!" James launched himself clashing blades with the Reaper. The Reaper quickly backhanded James throwing him back. The Reaper continued to walk towards Ruby. "Oh hell no!" James again threw himself into a confrontation with the Reaper, this time ready for any attack. As James mercilessly beat the Reapers defenses down, the Reaper kept a calm figure blocking each hit with surgical precision. The Reaper made a split second move and slashed James' chest with his blade, it instantly cutting through the armor and into the flesh. James' Aura burst into red from white; the aura was a blood red, completely covering himself and the Reaper with the ball.

Furiously James began cutting through the Reapers defenses. Each strike breaking the sound barrier James struck harder and harder. The aura ball that surrounded the two began to increase in size after every hit. The Reaper grew weaker and weaker after every hit. James switched to pistol mode and unloaded a full magazine into the Reaper. The normal bullets penetrated his armor but made no impact with his skin.

James began to slow his attacks, fatigue setting in. The Reaper found his window and took it. The Reaper plunged his sword through James' stomach. "This James is where you die." The Reaper sounded audibly out of breath but still spoke with a calm tone that made chills go up James' spine. "Not." James began. "Yet." James plunged the sword deeper into his body bringing him close to the Reaper who was unable to bring his sword back. James stabbed his Katana through the Reapers neck, who instantly collapsed after the initial blow.

James' vision began to black out as he fell backwards. James was deaf, he couldn't hear the screams of Ruby or and approaching ambulance. All he could see was a red grim reaper standing over his body. Crying. James reached up to stroke the face of the Reaper. With trembling hands Ruby held James' hand to her face. James was able to make out what she said: _'Don't leave me. Please stay with me.' _ James' vision faded to a complete black void.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_**A/N: Short Chapter is Short **__**D:**_

"It cold. It so cold." James realized that speaking was pointless. He was in limbo, black and white no other color. "You messed up pretty bad didn't you?" A voice came from behind him, people had a way of sneaking up on James. James whipped around to see the reaper sitting behind him on a small crate. "Hello." The reaper said waving.

"What the hell could you possibly want?" James said angry from the fact that he thought he didn't have to hear the reapers voice another second; he had killed the reaper fair and square. "The sooner you realize that I'm a figment of your imagination, the sooner we will be able to get along. Although my orders tell me I have to make your eternity here hell." The reaper started. "But for now we will look past those orders."

"James!" A voice yelled from far away, it was a voice James instantly recognized. _Ruby._ Ruby was here, somewhere. James just had to find her. "Friendly advice, give up." "Shut the hell up. If I'm doomed to be here, I'll do what ever I damn please!" James sprinted off to where he thought the voice was coming.

"James!" The yell was louder this time. James noticed a cloak of red roses duck behind the corner of a shack. Slowing to a walk James made his way to the corner of the building. "Ruby I…"

James rounded the corner to only see the reaper. "Hidey ho neighbor! I'm telling you, you wont find her, let alone catch her. You're stuck here remember?" James approached the reaper and held him by the collar. "Let me tell you something prick. I will always run to her, I will always follow that red cape wherever it may flow. I will always look for that innocent girl who brought daylight into my world of darkness. So if you think you're little tricks can stave me off from my goals, think twice. I would rather suffer and be able to see her, than to be happy and not see her."

The reaper sighed and disappeared leaving James to his excursion for a while. _'God he pisses me off.' _"James! Please!" A yell was close, James looked at an apartment building that had a figure in a red cloak on top of it, it was Ruby standing up there. "I'm coming! Just hold on!"

James sprinted to the building ramming the doors down with his shoulder. James quickly looked around and spotted a staircase. "James!" Ruby's wail echoed all over the building.

James got to the top of the building, to find the girl a step from falling off the building. "Ruby! Get back from the ledge!" James sprinted at her only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.

Ruby fell off the building.

"Damn it no!" James pounded his fist into the barrier almost shattering the bones in his hand. James slid down the barrier, his heat low in his stomach. "See how pointless this all is? You'll never get to her." "I'll kill you again Reaper, don't think I wont." The reaper put his hand up to his face and quivered in fake fear.

"Oh please no, don't kill a figment of your imagination!" The reaper started. "Because that would be a form of suicide, so you cant kill me!" The reaper cheered. "But guess what I'll do!" The reaper started again. "I'll kill _you_ again! The same way too! Its going to be so fun! Come on, what have you to lose?"

James just sat there. "I have nothing to lose anymore, reaper. You took it from me." The reaper flashed a huge grin at James. "But that means, I won't forget you either, and I will throw your name around like a ragdoll and make you nothing like you always have been. You won't be anything to the world anymore, just some killer that was ironically, killed."

"Humph." The reaper was upset. The reaper walked over to James and tore him off the ground by the neck. He leaned James over the ledge with his sword drawn. "Do it, coward." This aggravated the reaper.

With one fluid motion the reaper stabbed his sword through James' chest and kicked him off the ledge.

The pain was bad; it felt like a boot with a heel had just been stopped through his chest. "Prick." James smiled as he felt the intense burn of the pain surge through his body. Something warm was holding on to his left hand. James looked to see if it was a glove that some how manifested itself onto his hand and then noticed everything had color again.

A surge of life ran through James' veins causing him to gasp loudly.

"James… You're awake!"


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_**A/N: If you think James is taking jabs at the doctor, he is! They shoot back and fourth. I have an ending in mind of this series, BUT that is a LOOONG way away!**_

"James… You're awake!" Ruby screamed with tears falling rapidly down her face. "I-I Thought… I thought I'd never get to see you again." Ruby said between sobs. James' heart sank at the sight of a crying Ruby. "Hey. it's okay now. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." Ruby hugged James and cried into his shoulder. "Its okay now." James said trying to comfort Ruby by petting her hair softly.

"Please…" Ruby began. "Please… Never leave me like that again. Ever." James hugged Ruby tightly. "I'll never leave you." The two broke the embrace as Ruby stepped back. James scanned the girls face; it looked like she hadn't slept in an eternity. "Ruby… Did you sleep at all?" James asked looking the girl in the face. "Well… I uhh… I wanted to be awake so if maybe you… You were to wake up I would be here."

"Well, I'm awake now, so please go get some sleep. Promise me you'll get some sleep." "James… I-I… I don't want to leave you just yet, you've only woke up and I'm worried." James smiled. "I'm fine Ruby… And… Sorry for being… You know… Commanding… all the time."

Ruby reached down to hug James once again. "That's not what I'm worried about. They said that you might not wake up. I was so scared." As silence set in Ruby only tightened the embrace despite the pain James felt in the back of his chest.

"I'm here now Ruby. I'm breathing, I'm talking, and I'm alive. Nothing can take that away right here, right now." James said in an attempt to reassure the hooded girl. Ruby broke the embrace. "Sorry… That must have hurt, but thank you for letting me do that." Ruby walked to the sofa that an attendant brought in. Ruby pushed the sofa over to the bed where James laid.

"If I have to sleep, I'm sleeping next to you. That goes for until I say, okay?" "There isn't a 'no' option is there?" James asked with a small chuckle that he instantly regretted. Ruby hesitated for a second before heading to the door. "I should probably tell some one you're awake. I'll be back."

Ruby walked back into the room after a few seconds and was followed in by a doctor. "Ah, so you _are_ awake. That's an extreme amount of progress. So how do you feel?" "Permission to speak freely?" "Granted." "I feel like shit. Although for getting a sword stabbed through your abdomen I guess that's pretty good right?" "Very, on what level would you rate your pain from one to ten." "Eight and a half."

"Well we can give you some pain killers that will bring that down considerably. Unfortunately we will have to keep you here over night and monitor your status until we deem you able to return to your dorms at Beacon."

"Now of course you seem the fit type and also the want-to-train-constantly type, so I will tell you the rule now: No combat training for several weeks, I would say about three, No tiring physical activity i.e. running, jump rope, etcetera."

"That pretty much covers it, also one last thing: No heavy lifting. If you have more than two regular sized textbooks ask a friend to help." The doctor motioned to Ruby during the last part of his speech.

"Alright. Nothing I can't handle. So, how long are we looking at for the stiches to be removed?" "Considering that you're awake and your aura can take over, maybe three weeks." "So in that three weeks, no heavy lifting or other wise anything that could split my chest open?" "Correct, at this point splitting your chest open as you said could result in a loss of more blood than your body can put out, so no more James. I hate to be blunt about it, but I see no reason to beat around the bush."

"That's a good thing doc, I hate it when people aren't direct about these things. So how often do I take the pain pills?" "Once everyday, this stuff is highly active so take it with food and make sure to take water with it as well." "Alright. Thanks Doc, is there anymore to add?" "Yes, physical therapy. Would you like to look at some options or do it yourself?" "I'll do it myself, just a list of stretches and such that I need to do will be enough."

"Okay, give me a little bit and I will have your pills as well as that sheet ready for next time you come in. Oh, that's what I was going to say! You need to come in and get a check up at least every week. We need to have a constant record of how you're doing as well as how everything is healing so if you do have a problem or accident we can get you fixed with out the hassle of preforming a Physical on you while you're in the E.R."

"Fair enough, thank you doc." "My pleasure." The doctor turned to Ruby. "I'm guessing you're either his sister or his girlfriend, either way, please take care of him and make sure he doesn't do anything reckless." "Will do!" Ruby cheered.

The doctor had left as James and Ruby found themselves alone in the room. "So…" James tried to break the ice. "Get some rest James, you need it." "Not as much as you." "Then we'll both get some sleep." Ruby smiled as she walked over and turned the lights off. Ruby walked back over the sofa and laid down getting as close to James as she could.

Ruby reached the small amount of distance between her and James and picked up James' left hand. James twitched for a moment then settled back down. James glanced over to where Ruby was trying to sleep. She was already fast asleep. James knew he could return to his dreams without the reaper being there, all he wanted to dream about was being with Ruby and his teammates… Speaking of which… Where are they?

The door slammed open. "Sorry we're late! We just got word you were awake-" Paige was cut off be the scene before her and James holding up his index finger to his lips and looking mildly annoyed. "Hey, what's going on here?" Noriko said as she walked through the door. "Oh." The two walked over to where James was laying down. "So, how do you feel team leader?"

"Horrible, thanks for asking. You know I was beginning to think you guys forgot about me." "Sorry, Noriko spent way to long getting ready. I did threaten to leave her, although that didn't seem to have much effect." Paige shot at Noriko. "Sorry, the fur on my ears was sticking up and wouldn't go down with out water."

"Oh! I'm sorry! You're still my cute little kitty!" Paige said rubbing the spot between Noriko's ears. James heard a strange noise, it sounded like marbles rolling around in a box. "What is that… Wait! Is Noriko… Purring?!" Noriko removed Paige's hand and turned her head in embarrassment. "You said you wouldn't make me do that in public Paige!" Noriko said with a pout. "Oh come on! Its _soo_ cute!" Paige tried to reassure her girlfriend.

Ruby stirred in her sleep which made everyone fall silent. Noriko and Paige looked at each other, then to James, and finally to Ruby, who still hasn't woke up… Thankfully. Paige's scroll went off with a message from Ozpin. "Ah… Oops. I need to go back to Beacon; Ozpin has something he needs me to deliver to our dorm room." "What exactly happened while I was gone, wait how _long_ was I gone?" Paige looked at Noriko with pleading eyes. "Fine." Paige shot off like a rocket back to Beacon.

"A lot happened in the week you were gone." "A week?!" James whisper-yelled. "Yeah… Uh.. Anyway, we have been receiving "missions" back and forth from Ozpin, basically we're messengers." "How did this come about?" "The normal mail delivery system broke and he is making all of the first year students take part in the delivery team while they try to fix it." "I see. Anything else." "Nothing other than Paige and I doing-" Noriko tried to cut herself off quickly by slapping her hand to her mouth.

"Doing what Noriko? Is it something I should be concerned with?" Noriko turned a deep shade of red. "I…I-It…" Noriko managed to sputter out.

"Oh god. Okay, too much detail. Please tell me you've been cleaning up, oh god, I think I'm going to be sick." James turned a shade of bright red. "No! Don't worry, we have…" "Just stop! Stop, stop, stop. Oh god, just thinking about it. Okay, if that's all I'll let you go back to the dorms." Noriko nodded her head and walked out of the room.

'_Okay a little too much there… Is that what me and- NOPE. Nope, nope, nope. Bad brain no, no we are NOT thinking about that. Quit it!' _James' mind was in a jumble. "Pfft, screw it, I'm going to sleep."


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_**A/N: I missed the last upload due to being sick, if you really want to know I have bronchitis (its when you start to cough more and more due to an inflammation of the bronchioles which is cause by a build up of mucus in the lungs) in my left lung and I feel like I'm going to cough out my lung. Never the less I am on a bunch of meds trying to get better. I'll try to write as much as I can and then release it. So releases may slow down, hopefully not. But we will see! Thanks for the continued support!**_

James woke up to a severely cold room. James started to pick up whisper yelling between Ruby and someone else, turns out Weiss had made an appearance. "I don't care if he's your boyfriend, you need to come back to classes and the dorms. Everyone is worried about you." "I can't just leave him though! I need to stay here until he is better!" "Ruby, he's fine. The doctors said he would be able to return very soon. You should _visit_ him not stay with him until he leaves the hospital. Trust me Ruby he will be fine."

"She's right you know." James said sitting up. This was the first time he was able to do so without pain. "You need to go back. I can take care of myself here. Tomorrow I should be back. Go back to classes with Weiss. Please."

A look of guilt resituated from Ruby as she slowly nodded her head and started a walk of shame out the door. James' heart sank to his stomach. He wanted to apologize, he wanted to yell at the top of his lungs how much he loved her, but she had to get back to classes. James didn't want to be the reason she failed in life. Her classes were more important than he was. He wanted Ruby to succeed more than anything.

"James, you did the right thing." Weiss tried to comfort him. "I know, but it felt… so harsh." "Sometimes you have to hurt the people you love to help them." James sighed. "Just tell her I'm sorry for being so harsh okay?" "Fine." Weiss replied.

Noriko and Paige walked through the door. "How are you feeling?" Noriko was the first to speak. "Well, for one I can sit up now. Two, I just made my girlfriend feel bad. So back to worse." "Don't worry about it. I mean its Ruby Rose we're talking about it. When you get back she'll be more energetic than ever." "I hope you're right. I just feel like I should have said what I did a different way." "You can't change _everything_ for the better James." Paige said adding to the conversation.

"So, you're making physical progress?" Paige asked. "Yeah, I should be released tomorrow." "They said it would be longer." "Well, seeing as my aura has kicked in to over drive, it seems it will be less of a problem than I thought it was." "Even so, you are resting right?" "You think I would be able to go anywhere with Ruby watching over me?"

"Good point. Anyway, its good to hear you're getting better. We have class in fifteen minuets so we had better hurry back." "No problem, thanks for the check up." "No problem!" The pair said in unison. The two then exited the room.

'_Again with nothing to do, eh?'_ James thought to himself. _'I really need to pick a hobby. Something to fill my spare time. What that would be I have no clue. I mean, I just woke up and I really don't feel like going back to sleep at this moment.' _ James stared longingly at the window. _'If only I could walk over there and just look out the window. It would be a freedom from this dreary prison. A release, a way to know what is happening out there.'_

James grunted with content as he started to lift himself from the bed. His legs felt like jelly: Unable to hold his weight, but he was determined to make it to the window.

There was a large knee high platform just before the window. Looking around, James looked for a way to support himself. _The couch. _The same couch the Ruby had slept on was now had its back to the wall, and the couch ran all the way to the platform.

James started to lift himself onto his legs. As he rose from the bed, the more unrealistic his goal of reaching the window became, his legs started to buckle under him. James was to determined to give up; we would crawl to the window if he had to.

James stood at full height, only to fall with the couch breaking his fall. Every inch of his body was screaming at him to stop, but his mind was made up. Seeing as the window and window seal were quite big, he decided to make it over and look down on the courtyard below his room.

Crawling his way across the couch half on the floor and hands and arms on the couch cushions, he fought his way over to the window, at a slow pace. _'Damn it! Why the hell am I this weak?! I need to be stronger! I need to succeed; I need to re-achieve all of my accomplishments. Damn it, I'm like a toddler learning how to walk.' _ James was highly upset of how far back he was pushed during his recovery.

A nurse had entered the room as James raised himself up onto the platform of the window. "You shouldn't be out of bed!" She said running to assist him. "Stop. I appreciate the help, but I've made it this far. I'm not stopping now, nor are you going to reset my progress." "What are you even doing?" The nurse said with an upset tone. "A change of scenery, I'm tired of looking at these barren walls everyday. I need a change of pace, something new. Everything was starting to morph into the color of the walls."

"Still you should have asked for help." "I'm stubborn, no, I'm _very _stubborn. Trying to help me would only result in me not taking it. Although I do realize that I shouldn't even be attempting to do anything such as standing up without support, but the only way to adapt is to be thrown into the flame right from the bat."

"Why'll that is a way to do it, it is an extreme way to do it, it could re open your chest wound!" The nurse tried to coax James against the side of the wall. "I know. I know. I know how crappy my life is at the moment. I'm just trying to get a change of pace. I want to at least feel normal. Let me have that at the least." "Well is there anything you need?" The nurse sighed in defeat. "Some food, but I can wait until lunch for that I suppose. Just a tad hungry."

"I'll see what I can do. Now please don't move from where you are." "I'd rather be up here than over there in the bed honestly. I don't think I'm going to move far."

The nurse sighed with anger, James was really starting to be a pain, although it is understandable, after working here, the rooms and the patients start becoming all the same. No one really has a personality in this hospital so the boy's attitude was a nice change of pace.

The day was winding down and coming to an end, the sun had set and all the students of Beacon started heading back to their dorms to end their night, except one red hooded individual whom would end her night at the hospital.

As Ruby made her way to the hospital she noticed that there was a new night guard on duty standing at the front desk. The man looked confused as she made her way into the building with content in her eyes.

'Uhh… Miss can I help you?" "Uh, no thanks I know where I'm going." "There are supposed to be no visitors at this hour, I'm sorry but I'll have to ask you to leave." "I made a promise to one of the patients here that I would be here." "Even so Miss, you can't be here right now."

"Pleaaaase?" Ruby put on her best puppy dog eyes. The night guard sighed. "Do you have a master pass? Because if not I can't allow you into the building." Ruby flashed her card that was hanging off her neck by a lanyard. The night guard scanned it into the computer. "Ah! Miss Ruby Rose. Sorry, I had not noticed it was you. Sorry for that. Go on in." "You were just doing your job, don't sweat it!" Ruby said cheerfully.

Ruby's master card was paid for by Weiss and the Schnee family had quite the reputation through out Vale. Adding to the importance of Ruby giving her access to James' room twenty-four hours a day and seven hours a week.

Ruby was going to make sure her promise to sleep next to James every night was kept.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

James had been moved to a regular bed within the hospital instead of the normal hospital bed. The new bed was a ton more comfortable than the old one (to James at least). There was a type of chill in the bed the night before but when he woke up it felt like there was another person sleeping behind him. The body was small but warm, but not so much so that he would eventually have to uncover himself to get cool again. This heat felt as if it was regulated. It also felt like the warmth was pulsating. No, this felt too odd to James; something was off.

Then James jumped to a conclusion: His red capped girlfriend was sleeping behind him in her promise to sleep next to him every night until Ruby said she didn't want to anymore. Though when Ruby said this James was sure she was never going to stop.

Exactly as James thought, a small-framed Ruby was cuddled in behind James with her arms wrapped around him. When Ruby is sleeping she looks a lot smaller and innocent James thought.

Ruby stirred in her sleep because he life-sized teddy bear was moving around too much. Ruby let out a weak and small groan to state her displeasure. James tried to be as still as possible so the smaller girl could sleep. Ruby's scroll went off with an alarm to wake her up so she could get ready to return to school for the day.

"Nyahh~!" Ruby yawned slowly getting up and stretching forgetting about the other party in the bed with her. "Good morning." James said softly. "Oh. Good morning James." Ruby said rubbing her eyes. Ruby stopped and looked at James for a moment then her face turned a shade of bright red, becoming embraced.

"You must have slept well." James commented with a smile. "I did, thanks to you." Ruby replied back with a smile. "So…" James started. "If you haven't heard I get released today." "I think you told me yesterday." Ruby confirmed. "Ah well, I thought I might remind you incase you forgot." "How could I forget? This is huge for you!"

James laughed. "I'm just getting discharged from here, I very well may have to come back." "That's okay, you know I'd still come visit you." "True. Anyway, don't you have classes to attend?" "Oh crap!" Ruby dashed to the bathroom with a duffel bag filled with her uniform and other things she needed to get ready for the day.

After a few minuets of getting ready Ruby exited the bathroom tucked in the corner of the room. "Sorry, I've got to go James. I wish I could stay here." "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll probably see you in the dorms later on tonight when I get discharged. I should leave around lunch."

Ruby dashed over to James' side and gave him a peck on the cheek then dashed out the door in a flurry of rose pedals.

"That girl will always keep me on my toes. God, I love her." James said to himself in a whisper as he saw it fit to get up himself. Since her was already on his way to recover he could walk, he had made incredible strides over night as he was already able to walk (with the help of a crutch of course).

James grabbed his one crutch that was to the side of the bed that he slept on. With a grunt he lifted himself onto the crutch. "Damn, this still hurts." James said to himself as he rubbed the area where he had been stabbed. He slowly made his way over to the bed room where he had a fresh pair of clothes that consisted of a pair of regular blue-jeans, and orange T-shirt, and then a white sweat shirt that had Vale's city logo on it along with his regular black shoes with the orange stripe on both pairs.

The nurse knocked on the door to signal she wanted to come in. "Its open!" James yelled from the bathroom while brushing his hair in what felt like an eternity. His signature one bang was left in somewhat good shape as he only had to wet down his hair and brush it to make it retain its shape.

"How are you feeling James?" "A lot better, thank you for watching over me this whole time." "It's my job to watch over my patients. Don't thank me for it." "But I should, its only fair since you put up with my crap from day one." "Day one you were a lot less chatty if I recall correctly." The nurse laughed.

"I could imagine I was quite the charmer with that chest wound and all!" James laughed back. "To your defense you could have looked worse. I mean I have had patients with their faces missing from an Ursa claw." "That makes me feel some what better." James said realizing what people must come through the doctor's office in the world they lived in.

"So, my orders say I have to wheel you out of here. Is there going to be a car coming to pick you up when you get released?" The nurse asked. "I have no clue. If I have to leg it back to Beacon I will. It will be a nice exercise to get me back on my feet." "Non-sense." The nurse sighed. "If anything I'll drive you back. You don't need to strain yourself." She reassured him. "Even so, you don't have to go out of your way to help me. Your job ends as soon as I leave so there isn't really a point if you have something else to do."

"I want to do this for you, you've had it rough. It's the least I could do for you." "I would like that. But only if you have nothing else to attend to." "My shift ends early today, so I can take you on my way home." The nurse shuffled some paper on her desk then began to walk out. She stopped at the door. "Don't worry about it. I wont try to steal you from your girlfriend. You two seem quite serious." The nurse winked and walked out, her one brown ponytail flipped behind her as she walked out.

The morning dragged on slowly as James could only think of returning to his team and his red hooded girlfriend. James took his morning set of meds, no matter how many times he took them, he didn't like them. The pills he had to take were only as what he could describe as 'chalk pills'. They tasted like there was chalk on the outside of them and as he tried to swallow them the chalk would get caught on the top of his mouth leaving a foul taste.

James looked for something to kill time as he looked at the clock seeing it was not even close to time to leave yet. He picked up his scroll to see it had a message on it. It was from professor Glynda, odd. James never received any mail from Glynda let alone a message on his scroll.

_James,_

_I know how hard it can be trying to readjust to the world from being out of it for so long. It will be hard physically but if you ever need help mentally, please do not hesitate to ask me. It can be hard to find motivation to even attempt to get back to the point that you were, but if you do, you will see that it was all worth it. I'm here for you even if no one else is._

_Glynda Goodwitch. _

'_Glynda… Who would have knew. I'm glad I'll have a sort of councilor. Maybe I can finally put my past behind me. A sort of rebirth from this. I will come back stronger, faster, and just overall better than I was.' _ James was hell-bent on making this the greatest comeback of all time. Time. Something that James craved desperately. Time to make up for all of his mistakes. Time to make himself better. Time to spend with the girl he loved. Time to spend with his team, training.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"James, you ready?" A voice came from outside the door pulling James' attention from his scroll. James kept re-reading Glynda's message. How much did they really have in common? How could they possibly be alike? All of these questions surrounded James like grim to a piece of meat.

"Yeah. Thank you so much again Abigail." Upon learning her name James thought back to one of his family members he lost, in fact James had forgotten that he lost his entire family that night.

"Alright. Lets get going then." Abigail pulled in a wheel chair and gestured to it. "Do I seriously have to be wheeled out of here?" "Unfortunately, although we're going through the back so no one will see you." "Alright. Then lets get out of here." James sat in the highly uncomfortable wheel chair and the two began their venture down from the fifth floor to the back entrance on the ground floor.

"So, this Ruby girl… Are you two pretty serious?" "Uhh… Why do you ask?" "Just wanted to put my sisterly input in there." "Whoa, okay, slow down. Sisterly?" "You are James K. Grey right?" "Right but how does that…" Abigail cut of James. "See because I'm Abigail C. Grey. I'm your sister James." "Why do I not believe you?"

"Okay then, how about this. I can tell you anything about our family. Anything." "Alright then, what was mothers favorite color?" "Orange. You wanted to honor her after her death so you perma-dyed you hair orange." "T-That was a lucky guess. What was father's favorite time of day?" "Six 'o clock in the winter and then Seven in the summer. He liked to watch the sunsets."

"James, you may think its crazy. But I am your sister. After the attack… I left. I ran, I ran so far away from that place." The two had reached the parking lot. Abigail unlocked the car and they both got in. Once inside Abigail locked the doors. Tears began to run down her face.

"It was the worst thing ever leaving you. I was so scared… I-I forgot. I forgot you had survived…. I… I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I should have come back for you. I should have been the bigger sister I was supposed to be." James' heart sank at the sight of his long lost sister crying.

"I… How… But… I thought… I thought you had died! I thought I was alone!" James yelled. James' yell wasn't one of anger, but one of remorse. James wrapped his arms around his sister. "…Thank god I was wrong."

Abigail wiped the tears from her eyes, her make up smearing a small bit. "I'm sorry. No matter how many times I say it nothing will ever be right." "That's not true! You're here! You're _alive_! I finally get to properly meet you. That makes up for everything."

"No. No, James it doesn't. I left you for ten years! Ten whole years! I forgot I had a brother! Nothing will be right again. But… Maybe… Maybe I can try to make up for it?" "Abbie. Forget it. You've paid me back ten fold. Just don't worry about it. You've made your amends. You sought me out. I didn't even look…" James trailed off with his voice full of regret. "I have not! I don't even know what brothers and sisters are supposed to do!"

"Neither do I… But we're Gray's. We will figure it out as we go." Abigail nodded in agreement and started the car. "Are you sure you're okay to drive? That was kinda… Heavy." "I'm fine."

The two rode in silence for a while. Neither of them knowing what to say, then the dreaded red light appeared. They came to a full stop. "So. Again, about this Ruby girl…" James sighed, no use in dodging the question anymore. "I want to say we're serious. I want to. But there is just so much I'm afraid of. Like, what if she just decides to leave me on a whim one day? What if down the road if we're still together and I purpose to her she says no?"

"James you doofus." Abigail roughed up James' hair. "That girl is madly in love with you. She wants to be with _you_. I took one look at her and I could tell she only wanted to hear your voice, see your eyes when she was at the hospital. I tried to talk to her but she just sounded so… Lifeless. You are the love of her life; you are her shinning star in the dark. She wouldn't trade you for the world. And I swear, if you break that girls heart, I'll rip of your partridge and kick you in the pear tree."

James laughed. "You'll have to get in line. A certain fiery blond that is related to her has first dibs." "So she has a sister? Don't tell me she is hitting on you." "No… In fact she isn't even into guys. She's dating her partner, who happens to be quite the witty character." "She's lesbian then?" "Naw sis, she just likes dating girls." James said sarcastically.

Abigail jokingly punched James in the arm. With Beacon in sight James brought his bag from the backseat as well as readied his crutch. "Speaking of relationships, what about you sis?" "I… Uhh really don't get out much you see and I…" "Sis, quit being a shut-in. go have fun once in a while. You're all work and no play. Loosen up yeah?" "It's just that my work is demanding and my boss…" "Sis, tell your boss he can deal with me if he has any problems with you taking a vacation once and then." "What could you do James? You're too young to him, he'd just laugh at you."

James cleared his throat. "Well, lets see. I could freeze him in a solid block of ice, I could use physical violence, I could use psychological violence, I could beat him with his own teeth, I could make him _swallow_ his teeth, uhh, and the list goes on. Would you like me to continue?" "No. I'm sure he'll get the point. Plus you're a huntsmen, you're like, one of the most famous people on the planet." "_Huntsmen-in-training._" James corrected.

"By the way. I'm really proud of you for taking this life path." "I like helping people. Its just kind of what I do." "No kidding." Abigail smiled.

The car pulled to a stop in visitor parking and was halted by a guard. "What is your business here?" The guard asked. "Returning a student from the hospital. My brother James K. Grey." "Alright, just a moment." The guard went inside his station and talked on his radio for a few second before opening the guardrail to let them in.

"Thank you so much for everything." "We should meet up sometime and catch up." "We should. Do you have a phone?" "Yeah, right here. Oh but don't worry I already have you're scroll's ID. I was in charge of handling your things while you were out." "I see… Anyway, I'll see you around." "Bye James. Be safe." "I will. You too." "I will." Abigail said as she put the car into drive.

Back to Beacon… Once again.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_**A/N: Strawberry Ice Cream is amazing, and comedy! Or… My attempt at it at least! Hope you enjoy!**_

James sat in his dorm thinking about his sister. _'Is it possible she survived? How can I believe her? I know it may seem odd but it seems like she is honest. I don't feel like she is lying to me. But she knows so much, how? If she __**is **__my sister she __**would**__ know those things. I don't know.' _

Noriko and Paige walked through the door. "Hey cripple." Paige shot at James. "Hey." James said back distracted by his thoughts. "Something bothering you James?" Noriko asked. "Just a little bit, but its nothing to worry about." "Well, now I'm curious." Noriko admitted.

"I'll spare you the details, but apparently, my sister whom I thought was dead is actually alive." Noriko's eyes widened at the thought. After so long finally seeing his sister must be a joy. "So I'm left to figure out if she _actually is_ my sister. Not to say I doubt her, but someone I hardly know slash knew shows up and says: "I'm your sister." more or less throws me off."

"I see." Noriko said pondering the question just the same as James was. Paige walks around the room out of boredom, then ends up sitting next to Noriko, obviously wanting attention. "So…" Paige started. "You know, its kind of different having you back James. Despite you having probably a mountain of homework, you still have time to sit around pondering life altering decisions, while the plain people have nothing to do. I kind of envy you."

James eyes widened at her words. "Crap! The homework! Thanks for reminding me!" James shot over to his desk from his bed and began throwing numerous papers on his desk. In the confusion Paige was able to sneak a kiss to Noriko with a mischievous grin.

"When did you become such a sneak?" Noriko asked with a smile. Paige shrugged. "Dunno, maybe it started when I met you. You seem to influence me." Noriko let out a small laugh. The two looked over to James who was already lost in paper work.

"He seems like a younger brother. Then at times he seems like the older brother who would take a bullet for you. He's kinda strange." Noriko pointed out. "Is that so bad? I mean, he _is_ our team leader. He watches over us so the least we can do is help him out when ever he asks." "Exactly."

There was a knock at the door. "Its open!" James yelled forgetting there was two other people in the room, then looking up to realize his mistake. Ruby walked in and closed the door behind her. "Hey James." "Hey. Just come to hang out?" "Yeah. No one else is at my team dorm." "I see. Well I probably wont do much talking so you'll have to settle with my teammates to entertain you."

"Hey! Come on! We're fun!" Paige said as if she was just insulted in the highest manor. Ruby giggled at the conversation. James immediately got sucked back into his work. "You know, I guess I should thank you for watching over me the whole time I was in the hospital. It couldn't have been easy." James said continuing his work. "I could hardly leave you alone there could I?" Ruby replied. "Still, it was nice of you."

"Truly it was. We should be thanking you as well for taking care of our team leader." Noriko said. "Really, its not that big of a deal." Ruby said blushing. "Yeah it is! Because of you, James' stay at the hospital was probably more comfortable than ever!" Paige replied cheerfully.

"So what do you guys do for fun?" Ruby asked. "We kinda just talk. Normally its just us two." Paige said clinging to Noriko. Ruby smiled at the sight. "You two sound just like Yang and Blake." "Hey! I've got an idea! Let's go get ice cream from the cafeteria!" Paige said excitedly. Ruby gasped. Ruby snapped into her best work place tone. "I think that is a wonderful idea."

It was agreed that they would go and get ice cream, minus James of course. "Do you want anything James?" Noriko asked. "Just a water." James slid a small amount of money across his desk to Noriko. "Alright." Noriko replied simply. The trio walked out the door and James' subconscious took over turning on music from his scroll. James really didn't listen to music much out side of when he would study, making this the perfect opportunity to listen to it.

The trio happily walked down the corridor. "So, Ruby how are things with James?" Ruby turned a slight shade of red. "Good… I think. I like him and he likes me so I think we're okay. I'm just happy to have him back." Deciding not to further the topic of James' near death experience, Noriko and Paige dropped the subject. "So since you asked, I get to too! How are you guys doing." "Great! We're doing well, or at least I seem to think so!" Paige replied happily.

"Well, I think you two are cute together." Ruby admitted. "Thank you. You and James make quite the pair as well." Noriko offered back. "Thanks." The trio walked in silence for a little while not knowing what to talk about. "So, you think James will finish that mountain of work?" Ruby asked trying to make conversation. "Probably not, knowing James. He what he claims to be "The worlds greatest procrastinator and the modern day Shakespeare"." "So he's a slacker?" "Oh yeah. I swear sometimes he's worse than I am." Paige said with a laugh earning a slight laugh from Noriko and a small giggle from Ruby.

They all arrived at the cafeteria, minds still set soley on ice cream. Ruby placed her order then the couple ordered theirs along with James' water. "What kind did you get Paige?" "Strawberry." She replied happily. "You know, I always thought about getting it but I never have." Noriko admitted. A plan instantly formulated in Paige's mind. She had wanted to try this before but didn't have the courage to ever do it… Until now.

"Would you like to try it?" Paige asked with a grin. Noriko raised her eyebrows in suspicion, and then shrugged. "Sure." Hearing the words Paige's trap was sprung. She quickly took a bite of ice cream to flavor her mouth then kissed Noriko. They had kissed lips to lips before but this time it was different. This time it was a lot more playful.

They split from the kiss that lasted a blissful few seconds. "Not bad." Noriko said with a grin. "See? That's why it's my favorite!" Paige said happily. A squeak came from behind the two. "Uhh…" Ruby's face was a burning bright red. Noriko started giggling. The giggles became muffled laughter; the muffled laughter became a full hearty laugh. Paige just smiled, she was obviously very happy with herself and her girlfriend.

"Ruby… Ruby… Ruby.. I had… Forgotten you were here." Noriko managed to say through laughs. Noriko slowly started to calm down. She wiped a tear that had formed from laughing too hard. "That must have been a bit embarrassing." "No- I… It's fine. Plus! I've walked in on Blake and Yang doing the same thing.

"Aww! I thought I was the first one to come up with the ice cream trick!" Paige pouted. "You may not have been the first one to come up with it, but you do it the best." Noriko said with a wink. "Aww! Thank you! I have some more if you'd like." A huge grin appeared on Paige's face. "But then, I would have wasted money on mine. Kinda be wasting it if I didn't eat mine."

Paige froze for a second before admitting defeat. Paige put on her puppy dog pout face. "Nope. Not this time sweet lips. Next time, we'll share one." Noriko smiled. Paige's mood escalated again. As she nodded with happiness. "So that was a thing." Ruby said to the side tapping her foot patiently waiting for the two to finish their monologue.

"Right, well we should go see how James is getting along with his work." Ruby said heading off in the direction of the dorms with Noriko and Paige in tow. It took a few minuets to walk from the cafeteria to the dorms but none of them cared, they had delicious ice cream to keep them company.

Noriko opened the door to see James face down on the floor. "What the hell?" James didn't bother to look up. "Listen, I have no clue how I ended up here. All I know is that the carpet smells better than a textbook, thus I shall lay here until I am satisfied. Please tell me you have brought me that which I have ordered?" "Yep!" Paige answered. Noriko placed the large bottle of water on the desk.

James brought himself up eye-level with the side of the desk. He reached up and quickly snatched the bottle and drank from it before slivering back down to his place on the floor where he took a deep inhale. "I. Hate. Homework."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Ruby, even if I do manage to pull myself back up, I'll never be the same as I was." "So you're saying you're just going to give up? That you're done?" "I… I don't want to. But even if I was able to get back to where I was it would be a miracle." "James, please don't quit here. I don't want this to end… Us to end… Any of this to end."

Ruby wrapped herself around James. "Please don't leave…" Ruby mumbled. James turned in the bed to face the sleeping girl. James wrapped her in a tight hug. "Shhh, its okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here."

The sleeping Ruby had tears starting to form on her face, falling silently to her chin. James rubbed the girl's back in an attempt to comfort her but not wake her up. Well one of these was achieved, Ruby had woken up.

"Oh thank god." Ruby sighed heavily, with her eyes starting to tear up. "You okay? What ever your dream was it didn't sound pleasant." "You…" Ruby sniffled and began to cry. "You had left me, you were gone. I couldn't get you back." "Ruby, it was a dream. I'm here now. I wont go anywhere."

"S-sorry…" "Hey, its okay. You're allowed to be scared. I know it must be hard that I was injured as bad as I was. But you should know that I made a promise not to leave you. And I plan to keep that promise." "O-Okay…"

The two laid in silence for a while cuddled together. It was a comfortable silence, both of their emotions flowing through the air to each other, every motion could be felt, and they were both comfortable.

A sudden ruffling came from the other side of the room. The Faunus couple started to wake up, although it looked like they were as intent as a sleeping koala bear. A low soft groan came from under the sheets. Following it a sleeping golden haired girl rubbed her eyes with her ears twitching.

Ruby and James broke their embrace, both sitting up and yawning. "What do you want to do today James?" Ruby asked sleepily. "I gotta work on catching up. If I don't work over the weekend, I'm going to be over clocked working late into the night. Thinking about it, by the time I would call it quits you would probably be already asleep."

Ruby put on her best angry/pout face, puffing out her cheek and crossing her arms. "But it's a weekend! You should be enjoying life, not working!" James ruffled Ruby's hair, which seemed to only add more to the burnet's displeasure. "I'll 'enjoy life' next week. But seriously, I have to catch up. Otherwise I'll be in trouble with Ozpin, and I'm pretty sure a certain blond haired teacher would also have choice words for me."

"He's right you know. Because he was gone so long, his entire messenger bag is filled with homework and other things like study guides." Paige added to the conversation. "Aw. I wanted to spend the day with you!" "Its not like I've kicked you out of the room yet, plus its not like I'm going anywhere today." James reassured.

"So… I can spend the day with you?" "Yes you goof." James laughed. "Yay!" Ruby threw herself onto James wrapping her arms around her. "That's great. Now I get to stay the rest of the morning cuddling with you." "Not even going to get up for breakfast?" "Nope! I want to stay right here." Ruby laughed.

"Well, you two enjoy your morning! Me and Noriko are going to town today." Noriko sat up. "Says who?" "Says me! I want to go see you try on new clothes! Shopping to me just sounds like an excellent plan!" "Uh-huh. Well, have fun with that. Or rather, it should be: Have fun trying that!"

Noriko pulled Paige down on top of her refusing to let her go. Paige tried her best to squirm away, but to no avail. "I say we should stay in today, you dragged me all over town last week, and now I want to rest. Plus there is testing coming up soon, so I want to be relaxed. And what better way to do this than laying with my girlfriend all day?"

James groaned as soon as he heard the word 'test'. "Please let me go Noriko!" "Are you going to be a good girl and cuddle with me?" "No…" "Then no." Noriko sprouted a large smile as she kept her girlfriend from leaving her spot on top of her. "If you are to cuddle with me, I _might_ consider letting you go." "Oh come on, that's not fair!" Paige whined.

"Neither is this." Noriko kissed Paige and refused to retract her lips, although it seemed as if Paige didn't care on this matter the same that she did for staying in bed all day. The two finally broke the kiss. "You're right, that _wasn't_ fair." Paige said. "Sorry if that upset you, I just felt like it." "I never said I was displeased with it…" The two entered another long kiss both smiling through it.

James had already set to work on his homework he had been assigned. "So Ruby, I was thinking, dangerous I know, but I was thinking that next week we should go and see a movie." "Ooh, which one?" "I'll leave that up to you, I don't even know what is playing at the moment." Ruby hummed with content.

"Okay fine, I'll cuddle with you for a little longer, just please let me go." "Aww, I'm kind of depressed now, I thought you would be too stubborn to admit defeat so we would get to stay like that all day." "I don't always like being on top you know…" Paige trailed off. "Oh, so you want to…" Noriko trailed off as well while quickly reversing the roles with Paige on her back and Noriko straddling her. "… Be like this?" Noriko finished.

A large blush came over Paige. "Kind of…" Paige rambled out in embarrassment. Noriko's head and ears quickly shot up, remembering there were other people in the room. "You guys don't mind us doing this kind of thing right?" "Just no intercourse." James laughed at his own joke. "I don't mind, you guys actually are kind of mirroring Blake and Yang." "Hey, speaking of which, I haven't seen either of them in a while. How are they doing?" "Great! Both of them are happy and now Weiss is dating Neptune. So we kind of all have partner-partners now." "Good to hear, who's Neptune?" "Transfer student in town for the festival." "Oh. Hum, that's going to get weird. Long distance relationships can take their toll, but if they truly love each other, they'll stay together. I still can't believe Weiss would go soft on someone."

"Oh! She still nags at him all the time, but he just smiles and laughs, which makes her smile and laugh. They're so cutesy together." "Well, that's good for Weiss. I think she is starting to open up more. That's pretty big for her considering her reputation and all." "Okay, she's not _that_ bad. She just needs to warm up to people. She actually _really_ nice." "Oh, well now I feel like a jerk." "Don't worry about it, a lot of people don't know that about her."

"This is different than I thought it would be." Paige admitted. "What, you don't like being on the bottom?" "Its just a bit weird. But I'll get used to it." Paige said confidently sporting a huge grin. "You know _I _don't mind either way." Noriko said. "You're being awfully flirty today, you know that?" "Am I? Huh, oh well. Its kind of nice once in a while." Noriko slid off of Paige and landed on her side.

'_Today might not be such a bad day after all.'_


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

_**A/N: I was listing to some really epic music (AoT/SNK OST) and decided, screw it, lets be the crap out of some Grimm. The following chapters are going to be more combat based, but I will try to add some romance elements when I can.**_

A storm was coming. A storm no one predicted. When Grimm would freely walk the earth. The weak would be called to combat, and the defenseless shall perish. They were ready. They had trained for this exact moment. Nothing was as fighting and utterly terrifying as Grimm, Soulless beasts.

"James. Wake up." Ruby's frightened voice tore James from his sleep. "What? What's going on?" Red flashing lights filled the hallways and rooms, accompanied by a loud buzzer.

"What the hell is going on?" "I don't know, they just started going off." The buzzing stopped, to make way for an announcement.

"Students of Beacon academy: The world has called for us. Grimm have entered Vale and have been tearing their way through city blocks. Thankfully they haven't got far. We are deploying all teams. For now, first years need to get to the combat training room and await further instructions. This is our time."

"Ruby, get to your dorm. Now. Maybe we'll see each other later." Ruby nodded and dashed out the door. "Let's go girls, we have some Grimm to slay." "We were just called to alert. Plus you're in no way to fight!" Noriko said from across the room dawning her battle gear.

"Pssh. I'm always ready." The utmost confidence coming from James was something his teammates had not experienced. James took one last look at his room. "So much for home work!"

The training room was filled with all of Vale's first year teams. Team RWBY and Team JNPR looked ready, almost battle hardened. James knew his team was a rag-tag team, missing a member, but he was confident he would lead his team for a great victory.

"Alright! Listen up!" A voice came from the main stage. James IronWood. _'The military? This must be bigger than we thought.' _ "Hordes of Grimm have infiltrated the city. You will be fighting amongst fully trained huntsmen and huntresses, as well as military soldiers. There will be gunfire, cannons, and other distractions. Keep your wits about you, and listen to your huntsmen!"

Team JPN had been assigned with Ozpin himself as a personal guard. To be hand picked by Ozpin, pretty much made you an elite in the eyes of other first years. "James." "Sir?" "We're heading out in the first helicarrier." "On your command sir! Alright, you heard him, get loaded up!"

Ozpin sat across the small gap from James. The helicarrier was quite large, heavily armored and armed. "So, what are we expecting sir?" "Everything. Everyone whom can attack from the skies with a ranged weapon is aboard this helicarrier." "So where do we come in? We are mainly a ground force."

"You'll be providing fire up here, I'm afraid you wont see much combat outside of Nevermores." Ozpin tried to sound happy about it, although he knew how much James wanted to be on the front lines in this time of need. "You're injured James, I cant allow you to fight in your current state." James let the words sink in for a moment trying to think if he was greatful or annoyed at Ozpin's choice.

"Sir, all I see down there are Grimm. I see Grimm flooding every street, then seven blocks away I see our main force barely pushing them back." James stopped for a second. "If we were to drop an entire force in from behind, they would be cornered. Almost a pincer like formation, pushing them all into one area." "James. You're. Not. Going. Don't be so naïve to think that you're invincible. James it's a wonder you survived a sword. A claw can do much worse."

"Alright. Okay, I understand. Its your call." "Nevermore incoming, get to topside and see what you can do, no physical combat, pistol only." Ozpin made his orders clear. Team JPN slowly made their way topside from the communications room they were in. "Do you honestly think you're ready James?" Noriko asked from behind James. "I see everyone down there risking their lives down there. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Scarlet's team. Several others who I don't even know. They're willing putting their lives on the line, and I'm up here, fighting off nevermore that seem too reluctant to even attack the ship. No, I'm not ready. No, I'm not trained. Yes, I'm a damned fool. Yes, I'm acting childish. But I signed up to put my life in front of Grimm, not hide from them."

They reached the top deck of the ship. A few nevermore carcasses lined the ground slowly dissipating, and then there were even more getting knocked out of the sky. James loaded his revolver reluctantly slowly thumbing each bullet. James flipped the magazine back into place.

"James. You have a death wish. You _want _to die. But at what cost? Why? Are you really going to leave the people you care about most in this world?!" Paige yelled. James swiftly spun around and shot a nevermore aiming for their team. "I can't leave them if they leave me first. I don't want to leave the life I have now behind. I want to further it actually, but I'd rather feel the adrenaline of battle rushing through my veins, because it is for that moment that I truly feel alive, I feel like I'm doing good. I'm helping in some way."

"You are helping by being here! You should be thankful that you're not on the ground!" Noriko burst out. "If you think so. I really don't want to argue about this anymore. I've been given our orders. We stay up here and defend. No use crying over spilt milk." "Glad you're more responsive now." Noriko said somewhat cooling down.

"Things need to change… Quickly."


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

_**A/N: I would like to take a second and say thank you. Thank you all, seriously this has been one of the coolest experiences I've ever had, just looking at the sheer number of views and thinking that all of you people are here to read what I made, it honestly makes me really happy. I cant thank you guys enough for the support. Now, with out further ado here is chapter 21, Enjoy!**_

"Ozpin, I've got a question for you." "Send it." "How did the Grimm get into the city in the first place?" "We believe the White Fang destroyed a section of wall and an old abandoned tunnel in the abandoned city addition." "Then, why can't we drive them back and patch the cracks? I'm sure Glynda would be willing to give us a hand."

"It's not that simple James. We lack the required teams to block the entrances and that is a lot of work for just one Huntress." "Then get some of the first years to assist Glynda. See, the way I see it is, we have nothing stopping us from doing this but a clear LZ. So, my theory is, if we beat back the Grimm and focus clearing them out from a place, we can land and deploy more HITs."

"Not all Huntsmen in Training are as enthusiastic about putting their life in danger for a plan that might not work as you are." "Hum, true. Hey, don't Helicarrier have drop pods?" "Yes, all of them are equipped with- James no." "What? I mean think about it, if we shoot drop pods down with teams in them we can crush some of them Grimm, send other flying and give our teams enough time to get out and attack."

Ozpin let out a long sigh and took a sip of his signature coffee. "Alright. Fine. But we're sending you down with a Huntsman." "Works for me. We'll get to the loading dock as soon as possible."

James took his hand down from his earpiece. "Alright team, get to the loading Dock. We're going down there." James pointed to the small clearing of Grimm. "Are you insane?!" Paige yelled. "No, no. This could work." Noriko thought out loud. "Our objective is to clear out the force between us and the main force, then drive the rest of the Grimm to the walls. All Grimm are fair game. Try to keep environmental damage to a minimum."

The four teams that were stationed to the Helicarrier were loading into their respective drop pods. General Ironwood was to be dropped with James' team. "Didn't know you were aboard this vessel sir." James admitted. "Well. Here I am. Now, you all know what to do right? I don't need to hold hands?" The general joked. "We're ready sir. As soon as we hit the ground we'll come out swinging." "Good. I like that enthusiasm."

All of the teams checked in, there was to be a flight of four pods, they all had to communicate back to Ozpin who was the strategist for this run. "All right. All of you listen carefully. Exercise extreme caution, there are a lot of Grimm out there. No amount of kills is worth your life. Rely on your teammates and Huntsman for help if you get into trouble. Be safe all of you."

The pods shot out of the Helicarrier with a loud boom, it sounded like an explosion went off next to them. "So I guess it's a bad time to say this is probably going to hurt when we hit the ground." James said slightly nervous. "Ahh, pssh, Its just like a rollercoaster. Except one that hits the ground at terminal velocity." Paige said cheerfully. "You know, when I said I wanted to be on the ground, this is not the way I envisioned getting there." "Well, look at it this way, you're going to be fighting along side your teammates and your girlfriend if we survive this." Noriko said quite pleased with herself that she was able to tease James right before a large-scale operation.

"If we survive. Regardless this is my mess so I'll lead the charge. I just hope all of you can keep up." The joke went over the comms to all of the other drop pods. The laughs of everyone through out the teams could be heard through the radio. "Alright then 'commander' what are your orders once we hit the ground?" "Fight, otherwise listen to General Ironwood. We are to fight are way to the main force then try to push the Grimm out of the city. Simple as that."

"It's not going to be as simple as you think it is." Ironwood commented. "I know sir, but I'm ready to fight nail and tooth to return some kind of peace to the city." "And that's why you're leading this operation. Good luck." "Thank you, I'm probably going to need it."

"Time on target: five seconds! Prepare for landing!" The pods crashed to the earth sending waves of Grimm flying backwards. The first pod to open was Team JPN's. The door shot off hitting and killing a Beowulf. "Attack!" James shouted drawing his sword.

There was more Grimm than anyone could have anticipated. "Team two, set up a perimeter, everyone else start pushing towards the main force!" James had analyzed the drop before they had even been given the orders to begin their decent. He could see what the Grimm would do, what their patterns would be. He knew exactly where to go.

"Ursa!" James heard a call out from the rear guard. "I'm on the way!" James ran over to only be met with a tower of an Ursa. It was massive, claws like broadswords and teeth like bullets. "I got him! Get back!" James charged the Ursa dodging a swipe just by centimeters. James lunged his katana like a rapier. With several successive hits he jumped back and awaited the Ursa to attack once again.

The Ursa had other plans; instead of an attack two Beowulves came from behind the Ursa instantly swinging at James making him lose his balance for a split second, one of the Beowulves made use of this fault. James eyes widened at the approaching Beowulf, it was too quick, and there wasn't time to dodge it.

A bullet ripped past James tearing a small strand of hair. The bullet impacted the Beowulf with such extreme force it flew back into the Ursa. James stood in shock for a moment until a growl ripped him from his shock as he prepared to take the next Beowulf.

Almost like it was nature to James, he flew at the Beowulf stabbing the creature and freezing it in place then leaping backwards to face the next opponent. The large Ursa was staring James down, but it was like he wasn't actually there. Upon looking again James found that the Ursa wasn't even moving. The Ursa looked up slightly to see its worst nightmare.

**Nora Valkyrie**.

The orange haired berserker flew through the air with joy, with her eyes locked onto the Ursa. The Ursa started to slowly back up, anticipating Nora's strike. James took advantage of the snare the Ursa was in to fire two shots from his revolver into its legs to immobilize it. Nora now had a perfect shot to slam down into the Ursa.

Nora did as James had expected, in a slightly goofy fashion Nora brought her hammer down (literally) onto the Ursa slamming it all the way into the ground, the Ursa was now half buried in concrete and asphalt. Nora jumped back to where James was standing.

"I could've taken him." James said shrugging. "Right…" Nora shot off to hit the next opponent. "What? I could've!" James complained while running to join the berserker in her quest to destroy everything in her path.

"You know what to do right?" James asked for confirmation. "Yep! Get them out of the city!" "Good answer." James fired the rest of his current magazine into a group of Beowulves.

James heard more bullets being fired from a high-powered rifle, all of which he could feel the wind coming off of. The bullets impacted several Beowulves and an Ursa sending them crashing to the ground and tripping others.

"Who's trigger happy with the rifle?" James yelled to Nora. "Ruby!" She yelled back simply. James was in shock and took a double take. Just how close was the main force from their drop zone?

James activated his earpiece. "Hey Noriko, how close is the main force from us right now?" "It looks like about one hundred meters." "Oh. Well… That makes things easier. Any developments on your side?" "No, just a ton of Grimm, don't worry, we're good over here." James heard a small plane overhead. A girl with dark hair and sunglasses was inside… Holding a minigun.

"Oh god." James jumped backwards to allow the girl to have a clear line of fire. She spun the minigun up and tore through a wave of Grimm before the plane displaced itself after getting close to a building. "So, that's our close air they were talking about! Man, that's pretty handy!" A Beowulf leaped over James to face him.

"Seriously? Why be so dramatic?" James lunged at the Beowulf throwing his sword into it then sliding under it. "Might as well join the crowd." James retrieved his sword. "Hey Mr. Orange!" A voice came from behind him. James turned to see the person addressing him.

**Yang Xiao Long**.

A group of Beacon Students rushed by looking for their next target. "Well, if it isn't blondie, I thought you guys were going to make me wait longer." Yang rolled her eyes. "Please, I wouldn't miss this for the world. And if I remember right, my little sister saved your _beacon _a second ago." Yang laughed at her own joke. Was it really that funny though? "True, I owe her for that I guess. Why are we just standing here? There are Grimm to fight!" James said in realization.

"Forward unto dawn!"


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

James' vision was a blur, nothing held a solid shape. He had been side swiped by a Beowulf, causing him to fly into a nearby building. It hurt, it hurt like hell. James coughed trying to regain air in his lungs, and for the second time that day, he was face to face with a Beowulf.

James' semblance took control freezing everything nearby, the monster was now incased in ice, and a shield of ice protected James. He remained unmoving almost as if he was unconscious. Glynda's words rang through his head. _'Extreme use of a semblance can leave the wielder exhausted, to the point of unconsciousness. In sever cases death. Students, we must take great care of this extremely powerful weapon so it does not destroy us.' _

James felt the side effects; he was hit by a wave of fatigue that rendered his body numb. James thought he heard a voice calling out to him. "James!" The voice was muffled, the ice kept most of the sound out. "James!" The voice called again. A large blade came crashing through the ice like an oversized ice pick. "Hold on! I'm trying!"

Warmth and sunlight emerged through the large crack in the ice. James glanced down to see a small stream of blood coming from his chest. He had not been healed all the way, the wound from weeks ago opened slightly.

"James brace yourself, I'm going to blast the ice open!" The voice yelled. James' vision still a blur, all he was able to see was a pale blue ice color surrounding him, red, and the black of his armor.

A bullet shattered the ice where it had entered; the bullet penetrated the wall beside James, causing some of the brickwork to fall out. The ice started to fall apart piece by piece. The person had made it through the incredible amount of ice. All James could do was look up and give a weak smile.

The reaper had finally come for his soul, the red hooded reaper. Holding the signature scythe. His time here was up. "He's in shock with a high amount of fatigue, do we have a battle medic?" The reaper cried out. "I'm on the way!" Another person was standing over James, this one in a gold white uniform. An angel had appeared, but he was holding something, it was a case.

"James! Look at me; you're going to be alright. Stay with me." The voice became more and more familiar. The pitch, the franticness, the worry, it all sounded too similar to one he knew.

Ruby.

"Ruby!" James finally came around, his vision becoming sharper, the blur fading. "James, your good. Just a slight bleeding wound, I'm worried about it re-opening though." The combat medic said with hurry, they were on the front line after all.

James shot up to his feet, fatigue fading and adrenaline replacing it. James grabbed his sword from the frozen Beowulf. James looked around; the entire city block had been replaced with ice. James gave a slight grin. "We've still got Grimm to destroy, let's go!"

James charged to the front lines, feeling as if he had got a second wind from an unknown force. James gave the hardest sprint he could into a group of Grimm freezing the ground making them all lose footing as he struck them all one by one. "Who's the animal now?" James asked rhetorically.

A flash of rose pedals and a line of Grimm missing legs and torsos soon followed James. "Not bad eh?" Ruby asked with a smile. "Not bad at all. Care for a little competition?" "Bring it." "First one to clear this block wins!" James' child side came out, challenging his girlfriend to a kill off. Before James could finish his sentence, Ruby was already striking down Grimm.

It would be a lie to say James wasn't influenced by Ruby. James saw the fun and bright side of things, making him more of a friendly person, and one who got along well with people.

Ozpin watched as all of the huntsmen and huntsmen in training took the streets exterminating the mass amount of Grimm in huge waves. "They sure have work ethic." Glynda commented as she stood next to Ozpin. "They do. I really never had a doubt about how strong they were, just the way they applied themselves. I never expected the Grimm to get this bold. Something had to provoke them other than the White Fang."

"What do you mean professor?" "I'm saying there is more to this than we first thought. I'm saying someone knew how to control the Grimm, how to make them attack. Certainly the Grimm are wiser than we let on. They only attack small groups, not an entire town. It doesn't add up."

"Are you thinking Torchwick is behind this?" "Not Torchwick, but rather Cinder Fall. She certainly has a knack for taking over the city. Or at least wanting or attempting to. We can't forget the incident a while back."

"When she dropped Grimm into the city. Yes I remember it, and I believe it was I who had to deal with it." "Precisely, but she trapped the Grimm then, in a cage. Then had them hauled off in a small plane with a cage under it and just dropped them wherever she wanted. So, does that not give us evidence she is trying again?"

"Ozpin, I don't think its wise to peruse her, I mean even if we did catch her, she bonded herself with dust, she could burn through any jail she would be in. We can't contain her." "Glynda, what is the one thing that is opposite to fire?" "Ice?" "Exactly, and who do we know that can create ice on a whim?" "Ms. Schnee?" "And?" "Mr. Grey." "Precisely."

"Ozpin we can't. I refuse to use these kids' powers for our purposes even if they mean bringing her to justice!" "Glynda, I know. I know how evil and vile it is to use their powers, but we can't just turn out backs on this incident, they flooded the city with Grimm and made them attack. There is no way that we _can't _use them."

"I don't agree with this." "I know. And I'm sorry. But this is our only option."


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_**A/N: It may be Friday Night after thanksgiving, but I still made it! It's late at night but I made it! Aha! Eat it Sky's procrastination! You got nothin' on me!**_

"Mr. Grey." "I hear you? What's up?" "You're being pulled back for a different op get back to the original landing zone." James took into consideration his words and thought for a solid moment on his orders. "Alright, I'm on my way." James sprinted away from where he and his team were fighting.

"Where are you going James? The fight is this way!" Noriko yelled. "Don't worry you guys got this! Ozpin needs me for something else. Noriko you're in charge. Continue your standard missions, continue pushing the Grimm back. If you see an opportunity to do more to help, take it." "Alright, fine."

Noriko gave a nod in reply and relayed the order to Paige. James gave way into a full sprint back to the begging of the flooded street. James noticed a familiar girl in a snow white combat dress. "Weiss, what are _you _doing?" "Ozpin called for me. What about you?! You should be with your team!"

"Would it be too much of a coincidence saying that my reason is yours?" "Yes!" "Oh... Well… It is!" Weiss sighed, as she knew he was telling the truth. But why was he called? "Why did he call you?" "What?"

"Why did Ozpin call you?" "He said I was being redeployed! I have no clue as to where but I am!" "Okay. Could it be possible?" James thought for a second as to what she was inferring. "Possibly! I have no clue. For now we just need to get there."

The two sprinted in silence until they reached their destination. James came to a stop and put his hands on his knees and was panting hard. "Ah man, I'm outa shape!" "That was _five _city blocks! Are you serious?" James tried to speak through his rough breaths. "Hey… I… Have… An excuse!"

"Yet you still fought today like you don't have a problem…" Weiss grumbled. "Let's… Let's just get on the sip." James pointed to the approaching helicarrier.

The helicarrier dropped a small glass elevator to the ground that the two entered. "Well, this is a little more extravagant than what I had in mind. But hell! I'll take it!" Weiss placed her face in her palm with a quiet _slap_.

The elevator rose with a mechanical hiss and drone. "So, what's this about then Ozpin?" James asked over his radio. "_**Cinder Fall**_." This name threw James into a state of extreme concentration. "Tag and bag, sir?" "Precisely." James turned to Weiss who was shocked to see James in such a serious state of mind. "Weiss. Do you know what this means?"

"We're going to capture Cinder Fall." "More than that! We're going to put that bitch in a solid block of ice. We're going to shut her down. Think about it, our auras combined versus her dust! We win! We can shut her down for good."

"What about Roman? He's still going to be a problem." "That's up to Ozpin. I'd rather kill him and be done with it. But, hell. That's just me." "_Kill_ another person?! Are you serious James?! How could you even think of doing that?"

"Kill or be killed Weiss. That's their game now. Like it or not. The White Fang would rather kill than capture. You know this." James' statement brought a single tear from Weiss, whom was now looking down with regret. James' heart dropped.

"Weiss… I…" "I'm fine." "But.. I shouldn't have…" "James I'm _**fine.**_" Weiss' voice became angered and very apparent. '_fuck._' James muttered under his breath. "Listen, I'm sorry. I need to say it, I'm sorry I should have shut up."

As soon as he finished his sentence the lift had finished it's journey and opened. Weiss had a look of pure damn nation. She _was _going to _kill _James. Weiss somberly walked the rest of the way to James where he was standing. "Bastard!" She let out a roar and a punch to the middle of James' face that sent him flying (and sliding) back out of the lift.

James put his hand over where he was punched, and then opened his eyes. Ozpin was standing over him taking a sip from his mug with one eyebrow raised. "I _really_ deserved that." Ozpin let out a 'Hum' and continued walking to Weiss. "He _**deserved**_ that." She said defensively, but Ozpin hadn't said a thing. "I don't doubt it." Ozpin answered back.

"Oi!" James yelled from across the hangar. "So I'm sure you know what we're going to send you to do. James' forgot to stop transmitting. So we heard everything." "I _knew _I forgot to do something!" James said pointing a finger in the air still lying on his back across the hangar. "Yes. We freeze Cinder in ice, making it her permanent prison."

"Excellent. That is exactly right. This is a capture mission, and an execution. Bring her back alive frozen or not. We can take care of that." "See, I thought something was fishy about going in there and just freezing everything, then smashing it all. Man, I'm turning into Nora over here!" "Isn't it about time you got up?" "No. I adore the finely furnished ceiling. Its gorgeous, really it is."

After James' sarcastic remark he jumped straight up to his feet from his back. "Alright to the briefing room. There is more to discuss." "What?! Are you serious? It takes a lot of skill to jump to your feet from your back. Pssh, no credit." Weiss rolled her eyes at James. It was comedic relief so she more or less enjoyed his presence. Weiss admitted in her mind she wouldn't mind this mission seeing as James was there. There is no one she would rather have with her than him or her red hooded partner. Although, she would never admit this. She couldn't. She respect Ruby, she was happy for her to be in a relationship with James… But… There was something there she couldn't explain.

The three of them walked to the briefing room in silence save for Ozpin who was tapping around on his scroll looking for files no doubt. The glass doors of the room slid open. It was one-way glass, you could see out of the room but not in.

"Please, both of you take a seat." Ozpin gestured to the couch opposite the one he stood near. James leaned over and whispered to Weiss. "Where did he put that mug when he was messing with his scroll? Is he a wizard?!" Weiss slapped the back of his head like a scolding elder sister, although she couldn't help but crack a small smile at his joke. Ozpin did seem to have a way to make the mug come out of thin air and then some how send it back to his pocket dimension.

"So. Let's get down to business."

_**A/N: Sorry! Don't be angry about the cliff hang! I'm already late on the release as it is!**_


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"So. Let me get this straight… We…" James gestured between him and Weiss. "Are going into the forest to look for a secret base, that may or may not be there?" Ozpin took a sip from his mug awkwardly. "Yes, that sounds about right." "And what if we can't find it?" "Then it could be cloaked, underground, or just not there. Although our scouts are pretty sure that, that is their location." "Whoa, okay. Wait. Scouts?"

"Hm. Yes. Scouts. We send out teams of trained Huntsmen to do a bit of recon. Make sure the Grimm are staying in line, but now they are used for more…. Military-esk operations." "I see. Well, when should we begin our trip?" "Soon. Weiss do you have any questions on the matter?" "Yes. One actually." "Okay?" "When will I return to my team?" "As soon as you finish your mission. We still have to make an excuse as to where you two went. Our current thought is that you both went to Atlas to retrieve an important package. Although it has some holes in it."

"As we can see. Rather, now is a time to get back to the fight. I say we begin our mission as soon as we can reinforce the walls. We need every last able-bodied huntsmen to fight this back. We're so close to victory we can lick the walls." "True enough. You two are to redeploy. Dismissed."

The two left the debriefing room in a hurry. "Weiss. You know this could end very badly." "I know that you dolt. But we're the only ones who have a good control over what we can do. Like you. You just froze an entire city block in ice." "And you always seem to keep it contained. That sounds harder." Weiss sighed. "You can't take a compliment can you?" "Not without giving one back!"

James laughed, the conversations he and Weiss would have amused him. They had hit the ground again and were headed to push the Grimm back out of the city. "Do you think we'll find her?" James asked. "I hope so. But if we don't we'll just have to search more until we do." "You're intent on bringing her down aren't you?" "I am. I don't know if I'm as bad as Blake, but yeah, I'm pretty damn set on it."

James spotted his team and stabbed threw an approaching Beowulf while the others fought off small Nevermores. A Boarbatusk shot at James. "Aw, crap!" The Boarbatusk barely missed James as he dove out of its path. "Man I hate these things! It's a good thing that they can't move while in their ball!" James shot an explosive bullet to knock the beast on its back. In a swift swipe James killed the Boarbatusk then turned just in time to knock away another Beowulf. "How many Beowulves are in Vale? I swear I've killed half the population!"

James just simply shot the Beowulf with a normal bullet as it let out a roar that was cut short. There was no need for flare at the moment. Noriko got pushed back to where James was. "Hey." "Hey." She smiled back. She sprinted back to Paige's side. James rushed over to join them. "You two are seriously inseparable!" James said looking for an enemy who would entertain him.

James looked around even more… No more Grimm. They had reached the wall. "Hey… Uhh… How did we get here so fast?" A minigun roared in the distance. Noriko waited until the sound stopped. "That." She smiled. "Oh. Well. I wanted to fight more." James kicked the ground with his boot in disappointment. James was sure that Yang and Nora were somewhere doing the same thing.

James looked around for team RWBY unable to find them he started to go into a panic. "Uhh… Guys? Where is Team RWBY?" Paige and Noriko shrugged. "Crap." James muttered to himself. "Ozpin! Can I get a report on Team RWBY?" "North, none of the signals are moving though. It's like they are stopped."

James sprinted to the north, desperately looking for his covert ops partner and his girlfriend. The tracker was sent to James via his scroll. There was an alley close to where he was. They were in that alley. James slowed to a jog then a walk. Afraid of what he might see.

James slowly looked around the corner, so to make sure he could sneak up on a Grimm if need be. Before he poked around a voice came from the alley. "Weiss! What are you…" No more voice. _'The hell?' _James poked his right eye around the corner to see Yang and Blake in each others arms lips locked as well as… Weiss forcing a kiss to the lips on Ruby. "Weiss." Ruby said. "Shh. He doesn't have to know."

"Now just what in the hell is this?!"


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

_**A/N: Don't forget to check out my latest story and submission for MonCon! A candle in the winter. That is all, return to your regularly scheduled reading.**_

"Now just what in the hell is this?!" All four of them froze like deer in the headlights. Ruby turned in shock to face the voice, her eyes wide with fear. Silence filled the air uncomfortably. Ruby was the first to speak out. "James… I…" "This was all my fault." Weiss said standing in front of Ruby like a human shield. "So. What? Was I all just a ploy? Did I really mean nothing to you?" James asked trying to hide his fury. The air was becoming surprisingly cold.

Ruby looked at the ground with tears in her eyes. "When did I become so worthless?" James asked in defeat. "James… No… I don't…." Ruby moved past Weiss and moved close to James. "Please." Ruby pleaded. "Why… Why her?" James asked. "She forced that on me!" Ruby cried. "You have to believe me."

James slowly backed away from the alley. "I… I don't… When…" James kept walking back until he reached the street. "I…" James turned and walked away back to the battlefield of a city block. "James!" Ruby sprinted after him. James stopped walking. He stopped dead in his tracks, unmoving he waited for what she had to say. "I would never betray you like that!" She yelled.

"I don't want you to leave… Please." Ruby pleaded. "How…. How do I even handle this? Any of this?" Ruby moved to be in front of James. She saw his eyes, wide with fear and uncertainty. James was starting to want to lock everything away and throw away the key. "If you're happy with her you should with her. I'll be fine." James said grimly.

James brought his eyes back from the ground just in time to see Ruby swing her arm at James. James was stunned; he had just been slapped, with a lot of force.

James snapped out of his trance he had fell into, the depression, the worry, and the fear, shot away by Ruby's hand. "Ruby… I'm sorry…" "No. No James. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know how you could forgive me." The capped girl still had tears in her eyes. "What do I even say to that?" James repeated an earlier question. "What was _I _supposed to say to that? I don't know why she did that. She's had her eyes on Neptune. Why? Why did she have to do it to me?"

James realized how much the situation stunned Ruby and shocked her as well. "Do you realize how scared I am right now?" Ruby asked in a quiet voice. Ruby's head hung low in defeat as if her world just fell into darkness. James knew know how badly he misread the situation. Now full with regret he moved toward Ruby.

Without saying a thing James pulled Ruby into a tight embrace. "I'm… So… Sorry." Silence filled the air. Nothing could be heard save for Ruby's muffled sobs. James picked up Ruby bridal style causing her to let out a surprised yelp.

"I can't stand to see you like this." James walked to a near wall and sat down with Ruby in his lap still held in bridal style. "Its not you to be sad or depressed. Not to say you don't get to have your bad days. But I would rather see you with your bright smile than tears streaming down your face."

Ruby moved her arm to the back of James' neck. "Okay. I understand." "I don't want to put you in a position where I am dictating your life." "Is this dictation?" Ruby asked as she kissed James, much to his surprise. Ruby was the aggressor, making James retreat his head back to the wall they were sitting in front of. Ruby slowly retracted and put her forehead against James'. "Ruby…" "You wont control me and I wont control you. We're equals."

James laughed to himself despite the situation. "Yeah… I guess you're right." "I love you James." James' heart skipped a beat at Ruby's words. "I love you too." James said back trying to make sure he meant what he said.

The rest of the remaining clean up James spent trying to avoid team RWBY. Although James liked Yang and Blake, he wasn't sure what Weiss was trying to do. _'I mean… I'm sure Blake and Yang had nothing to do with it. I'm sure they were both lost in each other's eyes as the usually are. I just need to avoid Weiss until… Our mission. Damn. That's right._'

James shot back to his earlier meeting with Ozpin. _'Was that why? Was she acting out revenge? Wouldn't that be a bit too extreme for even Weiss? I mean, that's just being a child. I would think she is above that. But how do I know that for sure? Something could have ticked off in her mind causing her to go on a… No… She acted too calm and composed in the briefing room.' _

James knew an answer would be far from coming anytime soon. Right now he needed to focus on his relationship with Ruby and then his team before leaving. It was going to be a long shot from being able to be easy to say he was leaving for so long and James knew it.

"James!" Noriko called from a few stores down. "Yeah?" James called back. "I think someone is here! They might be injured!" "I'm on my way!" James dropped the giant piece of wall he was trying to move.

Noriko and Paige were working feverishly to dig up what they thought was a person. There assumptions were correct, there was a person still in the store, buried in cinder block and other wall reinforcement material. "Aw hell! Medic!" A man in a white combat suit soon received James' call for a medic. "We've got a survivor!"

The medic pulled the survivor further out of the rubble and loaded him onto a stretcher to return to the medical ship that landed close by. "Glad we got him out of there in time." James said with a sigh of relief. "Yeah. I don't know how much longer he had." Paige added. "…Nor do I…" James mumbled under his breath. "Hum?" Noriko questioned. "Ah. Don't worry about it. I was talking to myself." James said.

His two teammates stood side by side and twitched their ears in rhythm. "Did you forget?" Noriko asked. "We are Faunus, we have pretty much super hearing." Paige added. James' heart sank to his stomach. How was he supposed to tell them about Weiss and Ruby? How was he supposed to tell them about his mental breakdown? '_I'm supposed to be a leader. I can't show weakness to my team.' _

"Really it was nothing."

"James!"

"Oh shit."


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"James!" "Oh shit." James muttered to himself. "Are you ready to go?" James let out a sigh. "Yeah. Give me a moment with my team." "Hurry it up." Weiss commanded. James turned to see that his entire team was confused. James let out another sigh. This is not going to be easy to explain.

"I'm going to be gone for quite a while. Ozpin is sending me to Atlas. I'll be back once I'm done with what ever it is he needs me to do." James hated lying to his team, it felt incredibly wrong. "Alright, have fun." Paige said. "Nothing too crazy while I'm gone." James said with a joking grin. Paige adopted a blush as soon as James finished his sentence. "I can't promise you that." Noriko said. "Just keep the room in order."

It was a sort of freedom to be able to talk to his team in a natural flow. As James had told his team before he had no friends as a child. He was very much alone, but now… Now its different. James knew that his life would change going to Beacon; he was prepared for an all out war on his mind. The war he got however was one of emotions. When he would sit alone in his study, he would think. What would it be like to be a hero? What if I wasn't the bad guy all the time? He would never receive an answer to the questions he asked.

"James. Time. To. Go." Weiss said impatiently. "Right. Good bye." He nodded to his team. The pair started to walk away. "This is could be the last time I see them." James said. "I know that." "This could be the last time I ever hear their voices. This could be the last time I ever feel human. Are _you_ ready for this?" "Yes." Weiss answered plainly. "You're calm in the face of death. You're either a fool… Or a complete genius."

"Who knows what I am at this point." Weiss answered. "Do we even know where she is? It's a needle in a haystack. There is a single point to this mission. Capture the objective in an iceberg. Although, we don't know where our target is." "That might prove to be a problem." Weiss said flatly.

"You just don't care do you? That's why you're doing all of this. That's why you have no feelings on the matter. You feel like you could die now." "Screw you." Weiss hissed. "Listen. We're going to be alone in a forest for probably the next month. We _need_ to get along, or we will both be in a hell that neither of us could have perceived." "That sounds like _your_ problem." "My problem isn't you. It's you attitude. If you want to act the part of a stone cold killer, be my guest. But if you want the real thing, you're looking at him."

"What?" Weiss said in confusion. "If you think you're some badass loner who can take on the world, you're sadly mistaken. I know the forest better than any living person. I spent five years there. I killed everything in my path to survive. Once my parents died, I had nowhere to run. So, I found a place to hide instead." Weiss remained silent but kept a face of shock. "Listen. We will finish this mission, and we'll return home." James stopped walking. "But first. Why? Why kiss Ruby?"

Weiss looked at the ground in defeat, and then to the sky with a smile. "Well…" Weiss began. "I _wanted _to kiss _you_, but then I thought of what my relationship with Ruby. She would hate me for an eternity. Plus, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. On top of that… I needed to say good-bye to my partner." "So, you kissed Ruby to get to me. That's one hell of a strategy." "I thought about it the entire time I was in the helicarrier."

The two continued their walk to the edge of the city where the wall ended. "Are you sure we can end this?" Weiss asked. "No. I'm not sure. But I think its time we stop the bull from prancing."

The two walked into the forest, the Grimm were distracted at the other side of the city; nothing would be out this side for miles. "So. Where do we start?" Weiss asked. "Well, if they don't have intelligence, the Grimm invasion would be right above them. I conclude that most likely they will be under ground. Easier to defend." James stated. " I say we head north. It will be a place cold; the equipment they can run can over heat quickly. Thus, we have an upper hand. No doubt on the outside of the compound there will be infrared cameras. So, if we hide our selves in snow, or use our semblance, we have a free ticket inside."

"So in the barren north. You're saying it would just be out in the open covered by snow?" "Yep. That is exactly what I'm saying. Think about it, they have the necessary resources to keep alive. Plus if they needed to they could get shipments of food and water without anyone noticing. They're invisible, so we just need to rip the wool from the public's eyes."

"That is quite a journey. A few thousand miles." Weiss admitted. "Better start walking then."


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

_**A/N: Don't be too sad but I have an ending on the horizon! But fear not! For there might be a sequel (don't hold me to that) and I'm sure Who We Once Were will go on for as long or even longer than this! (Again, don't hold me to that)**_

The days seemed to grow longer and longer as Weiss and James trudged through dense forest to find where Cinder Fall is hiding. "James… Can we stop for a bit?" Weiss asked. "Yeah, I'll set up a perimeter." James checked the surrounding area for cameras and Grimm alike. Nothing would surprise James this deep into the northern forests. No one _wanted_ to live out here. It was a nightmare to even travel this far, let alone set up camps.

James returned to where Weiss was sat up against a tree. "I still kind of like you, you know." "I know. I'm sorry but I can't return the feeling." "Yeah. I know you can't." "Want some water?" Weiss asked holding up a bottle. Weiss was exhausted from the amount of traveling they did. "You drink up, I'll drink some from my pack if I want some." James was fatigued, he lead the way, yet he couldn't help but shut his eyes as he sat down to rest. "The hell are even looking for anyway?" Weiss asked with mild irritation.

"Some sort of Bunker. A base. Hell they could be based in Vacuo. Place has got kinda shady. Not exactly a suit and tie kind of place if you know what I mean." James kept his eyes shut the entire time bet felt the ground around him to keep the shroud of sleep away from his conscious. "You haven't slept in a week James. Why don't you let me keep watch?" James opened his eyes. "No. I can't abandon the mission. I must stay awake. I've got to be prepared. This place has changed too much. I can't sleep."

"What would Ruby tell you out here?" James laughed. "'Get some sleep James. I'll keep watch for you!' That's what she would say." James answered. "Well, I'm telling you the same thing." Weiss said plainly. With a sigh of defeat James set back against the tree and fell to the shroud of darkness that clouded the corners of his mind.

James felt a sense of worry, in his mind he felt as if he was sleeping for _too_ long. Something was wrong, he did what he trained to do, speed up his heart rate to wake up. Panting he shot open his eyes. '_That's right, we're in the forest. Weiss. Where the hell did she…?' _ James realized there was something against his side. It was Weiss, she was asleep holding on to James' side. James un-holstered his pistol and scanned around from where he sat against the tree.

"Weiss. Hey. Wake up." James shook Weiss with his free hand. "I think they're over here!" A voice yelled from the forest. "Weiss, get up. We're leaving. _Now._" James said lifting up Weiss by her arm and slinging it around his neck. "Weiss. Wake up damn it!" Weiss groaned. "Are you serious?" James quickly uncapped his water canteen he had and splashed a small amount on Weiss' face. She tried to let out a yelp but James muffled it with his hand.

"We're surrounded, be quiet and eyes sharp." James commanded. Wiping her face off with her hands went to speak. "Why not just take them on?" "Because I have no clue how many there are! And they obviously know we're here." James ducked into the brush and pulled Weiss with him. "We need to stay quiet, if they even think they hear us they'll alert each other."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Weiss asked in a whisper. "This." James said grabbing a scout as he was walking by, knocking him out before he hit the ground. The man was unconscious and wearing a White Fang uniform. "Do you really think the White Fang is behind all of this?" James asked. "I don't know. Maybe?" "Because I highly doubt it. These guys don't exactly look like the mercenary type. I think they're just tools of war."

James unmasked the scout, to reveal a girl's face with long black hair and rabbit ears. "Aw hell. They're just teenagers. Like us. I'm sorry I have to do this." Weiss turned to James in confusion as he stood up from the brush dragging the Faunus away from the rest of the group. "What are you doing James?" Weiss asked frantically. The girl started to come to. She looked afraid; she was about to yell before James put his hand to her mouth and a gun to her chest.

"Please don't make me do this. You don't have to be here. The White Fang aren't good guys. I know you'll probably say something against me, but it's the truth. They blew up an entire train of innocents, human and Faunus alike." A look of shock ran across the girl's face. "The White Fang use fear for equality. There are other ways to try to attain peace. Now. I'm going to let my hand down; I want you to tell me your name, okay? I don't want to hurt you, but I can't speak for my partner. So please just don't yell." The girl nodded a small tear running from her left eye.

James let his hand down, and the girl relaxed a small bit. "My… My name is Jessica." "Well, it's nice to meet you. I just wish this could have been under different circumstances." "They'll kill me if they find out about this." The girl's head hung low in defeat; she knew she was going to be beat or killed. "Not exactly." James said with confidence. "Listen. In Vale there is one person that can keep you completely safe. Free from all harm." "That's what they told me when I joined the White Fang…" Jessica commented.

"Just a moment." James said while reaching for his earpiece. "Ozpin, this is James, we have a surrender. Please advise." "Is it an H.V.T?" Ozpin's voice rang out over the earpiece. "No. Ozpin I can't leave her here with these people." "Its too dangerous, she could be a spy." "Ozpin, I just knocked the poor girl out, she doesn't have a communicator on her. Scratch last, I'm _not _leaving her here." "James, I know it can be hard but…" "But nothing Ozpin. This is just the same as Paige. Would you have walked past a girl who was injured in the forest who was bleeding out? This is the same. I know what Faunus are treated like."

"James. Continue your mission, do not let someone get in your way." Ozpin said. There was a long silence from James. "…Copy…" The girl looked up in hope at James. "Can I actually leave this horrible place?" James let out a sigh then looked to Weiss. "Ugh, fine." James nodded quickly. "Yes. But I need one thing from you. Where is the base?" "North about half a mile. There is a small bunker out there, in it is a number pad, and the code is twenty-four, twenty-four."

"Alright. Good. You've really helped us." James motioned to Weiss. "You're going to go with Weiss. She may be a bit grumpy all the time, but she is a good person. Aren't you Weiss?" Weiss backhanded James. "I happen to be one of the nicest people I know." "Tell that to my poor face!" James almost yelled before he remembered where they were. Jessica let out a small giggle. "Now get going." "What about you? You won't be able to take Cinder alone!" "That's why I have this." James pulled a small orange bottle from his battle pack.

"A pill?" Weiss asked. "Not just any pill. An aura enhancement pill. I take this and I will have the power that match three other aura users combined." "That could be dangerous, you could die if you use up your aura too much!" "Be sure to tell Ruby I love her when you return." James used his reflective cloak to turn almost invisible. He would be undetectable in the forest, even if he were right next to someone. There was a rustle of leaves then James was gone.

"Let's go Jessica. We need to get you some where safe."


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

_**A/N: YES! Ah, okay. Chapter 30 will be a jump cut, be prepared. I tried to fill in some of the gaps, so I can proceed to the ending! Remember; Follow Sky_Breed on twitter for hourly (don't hold me to that) updates on my fan fics or novels… Or what ever these are! Peace!**_

James reached what he believed to be the bunker. "Ozpin, this is team one. Looks like we wont need the explosives after all, I'm entering the compound now." James punched in the code to the door that the Faunus had told him. The door slowly slid open. "Hey Jessica its nice to see you… Back." A voice came from behind the door. James sprinted to him and threw him into a wall knocking him out before he could signal the alarm. "Well, this is going to suck." James admitted to himself.

"So! Here is what I suppose we do. Mac I want you to stay a permanent guard at the door, switch off with Melanie every twelve hours." '_Crap! They're coming to the door._' James thought to himself. The shadow cloak that James carried only worked in direct sun or moonlight. Artificial lighting wouldn't work. James panicked and jumps from a shelf to the rafters in attempt to get out of sight. The crew of three that were just talking came around the corner of the long hall way to the door.

"What the…" The big man in the middle started. "Sound the alarm! There is an intruder in the building!" As soon as he finished his sentence an alarm went off as well as red lights flashing. James jumped down in front of the small team.

"Well, that was pointless. I really need to work on stealth don't I?" James lunged forward to take down the first opponent to reach. James' confrontation with Jessica made him realize that all the other White Fang members were under the same illusion of fighting for good, so James went to using non-lethal takedown tactics.

The first man went down with a small struggle; the female of the group pulled out an assault rifle and began aiming trying to get a bead on James. James slid under the girl using his arms to trip her up. "So." James got up and dusted himself off. "Is this suicide or arrogance?" The juggernaut of a man lunged himself at James only to be met with a swift parry knocking the man off balance. The man quickly regained his posture. "Suicide." The man returned. "Only a fool would take us on alone." The man had a poker face on, he wanted James to know he meant business.

"And what's to say I'm alone, hum?" "You would have singled me out first and then used a teammate to take out the other two." "You know tactics too well." James sent out a barrage of fists trying to disorient the man. The man saw past one of his attacks and grabbed James by his arm and threw him. James flew into the huge steel door with a thud, losing all of the air in his lungs. Gasping for air he slowly got up, but the man was already above him. With another grunt the man picked him up and threw him the opposite direction.

James flew into several barrels of paint and numerous steel boxes. James slowly dug himself out. "You know what? That was just dirty." James unsheathed his pistol and switched to sword form. "How so?" The man was behind him. "Oh no you don't." James plugged his sword into the ground freezing it into a solid layer of ice. James took a flash bang from his belt and tossed it into the center of the room. While the grenade went off and stunned the man, James looked around the room he was know in, it was a dome like room with two stories, James noticed on the stories higher up people were trying to regain their vision, they were all armed with weapons. They were not happy about an intruder… At all.

James used the ice to slide around the room in attempt to get a good angle on the juggernaut, and then James found an opening. His legs. With one seift swoop James slid to the man knocking on his stomach. James relied on his sword to knock the man into the air, it sent him into the air to where James had an open shot. James swung his arm as hard and as forcefully as he could hitting the man in the stomach and sending him sliding across the ice to the near by wall.

"Well… That's one. Now… Who's next?" Bullets rained down from the second floor causing James to rush into cover. "Well, this could be worse than it actually is. Wait. Idea!" James knew there was a corridor below him. Using three of the explosive charges James had in his battle pack, he placed a small triangle on the floor around him to make a quick escape.

"This… Might hurt." James pressed down the detonator. The charges exploded in a magnificent displace of fire dust. The piece of concrete that James was standing on fell into the corridor below with James not far behind. There was a few unsuspecting men below who got hit by the fall debris.

Th alarm quite sounding and everything went dark. "Bull shit. This is not that easy." "You're right it isn't." A voice came from behind him, the whole place was dark, devoid of light. James felt his aura flare so he moved to the right just in time to dodge an incoming blade. He could hear the blade whiz by and hear the person land. "You have quite a high bounty, you know that. Don't you kid?" The man asked rhetorically.

"Yeah. Your leader is dead too. Thanks to me. Oh hey by the way, perhaps you could tell me what this phrase means. 'X marks the spot.'" "It means… Oh shi-" James clicked a second detonator that blew apart the man that was trying to kill him. "Your kind deserves to suffer in the fire pits of hell. Just call this: 'A hit and run.'"

The intercom turned on with full blast. "Tisk, tisk, tisk. James do you realize how much trouble you caused me? Because of your little invasion I had to capture your girl. You put me through so much trouble, you and your entire school. So listen I have to run, but have fun with extra explosives I scattered around the base." Roman Torchwick. James thought. "Alright ass hole. If that's the way you want to play. Ruby, please tell me you aren't in this base." James flicked open his scroll and linked it to his second earpiece. "Team JPN come in. Ozpin come in." Both sides answered the call at the same time.

"Mission compromised, Ozpin I have my team on the other line. Team get Ruby to safety and set up a perimeter, Ozpin, Weiss should be returning soon, the base was rigged with explosives and it just so happens I'm still inside. James out."

Ozpin's voice rang out from his right ear. "Alright. Get back safely. What of Cinder?" "Not a priority right now. Roman was in the base and left, assuming that Cinder was with him they're gone. I advise to set up security around the base. It sounded like they're going to strike now." James yelled as he began sliding over boxes and under troops to get out of the facility. "If _any _of you want to survive follow me!" James yelled. James was an expert mapmaker so he could walk into a building and instantly know it back and forth.

Explosions went off one floor below him shaking the earth. "Oh shit. This is going to hurt!" James flung himself into an emergency elevator that was surprisingly empty. James heard charges being blown off on his level, the sounds were getting close and close. "Close damn you!" James yelled as he furiously beat at the close door button in the elevator. The elevator door closed as a fireball reached the elevator, causing it to slam downwards into the earth.

"Now this is _really _going to hurt." James braced himself for a hard landing, which indeed it was. Fifty-four floors of cement and steel all fell with him as he plummeted to the earth. James' earpieces tracking every word he said. The signal went silent on the other sides. James had hit the very bottom within seconds.


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

_**A/N: Alright, well the Jump Cut is NOT story breaking, I try to fill in the gaps as much as I can. Through the final chapters I'll try to recount everything I missed! **_

James opened his eyes, who knows how long he had been knocked out. The initial hit from the elevator sent him flying out into the open and unconscious. James' earpiece gave a weak crackle. "All teams… James… Recovery… God speed." The words were static, nothing was clear. James was under a small piece of concrete, he flung it off. Strangely he was unable to move his left arm.

"Fuck." James coughed. It would be days here in the wilderness before anyone would find him. "Well… Shit this could be worse. James gave a tug of his left arm; it sent a sharp pain throughout his body. "It's broken as all hell isn't it?" James asked rhetorically not expecting an answer. "I would assume so." A voice came from somewhere.

"_**You.**_" James growled. "I thought I got rid of you!"

The voice laughed. "Man, I love it when you hallucinate, it gives me a chance to be here." The reaper returned.

"So? What? Are you going to sit here and bug the ever living crap out of me until I go to sleep or get rescued?"

"I wouldn't even dream of getting rescued from this. You're buried under a ton of rubble. No way they'd find you."

"So you say." James commented.

"Yes, so _we_ say to be more precise."

"Can't you turn in to Ruby at least? Make my death more comforting?"

"Oh? Like this?" The reaper morphed into Ruby with her sleeves rolled up.

"Oh James. I knew I should have stopped you." The reaper or what was now Ruby started to slit her wrists.

"Fuck you."

"Well…" The reaper morphed back into him. "Fuck you too buddy. Listen, its my job to be here and make you worry. It's your own damn mind that is screwing you over. I'm just being told what to say."

"Listen James. I'm going to level with you. Right now, your love for Ruby and hope for rescue is the only thing keeping you alive. If you look to your left, you'll see you arm. Not only wedged under a ton of rubble, but a ton of blood on the ground beside it. You've been bleeding out. You should be okay by this point, it's been a few _hours_ since you hit the ground and started bleeding."

"Well. The body needs to regenerate its blood right?"

"Yep. Seems like it."

"Then I'll get some sleep."

"There is no guarantee you'll come out of it."

"Worth a shot at least. Like you said, they wont find me anyway." James closed his eyes and fell into darkness like none other.

A day had past since James fell asleep into a coma. The sound of jet engines above made James throw his eyes open. "Hey! Down here! Help!" James voice was rough and filled with pain. "Help!" James would keep screaming until he lost his voice. "I'm here! Help!"

The calls were not getting through, then James heard what he thought was a voice.

"…James?"

"Help! Down here!" James voice was becoming raspy and airy. "Help!" James yelled again.

"Where are you?!" The person called. "I can hear you! Make more noise!"

James went to yell again but his voice was gone. He had yelled so hard it made his throat too sore to even speak. All it was was a whisper. James noticed his pistol was still in its holster on his hip. James unpinned it from its holster and fired a shot.

"What was that?!" A voice came from above. "James if that's you fire twice!" James did as he was told and fired off two rounds, only one remained.

"Good! That's great! Do it again!" James let out another shot which impacted a near by wall and knocked some debris down. "One more time James!" James was out of ammo. James threw his revolver as high as he could near the closest wall. It hit with a loud metallic noise.

"We're here! Don't worry!" James saw a man in a black combat suit sprinting to him. The man slid to where James was.

"Hey. Look at me. Can you move?"

James gestured the man to come in closer. "No. If I could I would be gone. My left arm in pinned." James voice was barely audible and very dry and raspy, to the man it sounded painful to speak as it did for James.

"Alright, alright. We got you. Hold on." The man sprinted to the opening where he had come down and shot a red flare.

Within seconds there were five heavily armed men along with the first man. All six of them moved to the rock to try and move it. They tilted it just enough to where James could quickly get out. James went to stand up but fell to his right side. James let out a deep grunt of frustration and slammed his fist against the ground.

"Whoa, easy there. Come on let us help you." The first man to arrive said. "Ozpin, codename: Icepick has been recovered. He has a shredded left arm and it's broken in many places. He needs medical attention."

The man was silent for a second. "Copy all. On our way."

They all helped James up the rubble; once James hit the surface he saw something he never would have believed if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. One massive airship accompanied by smaller helicarriers all controlled the air space. Standing outside the crater was teams JNP, JNPR, and RWBY. They all rushed to greet James as he got out. James had gained a bit of balance and strength in his legs after climbing up the crater.

"James!" Ruby was the first to sprint up to him. Ruby hugged James in a right embrace. James fell to his knees pulling Ruby with him. James had his broken arm wrapped around Ruby's neck and the other hand holding her head.

"I… Thought you were taken…. I worried so much." James words were slowed and very quiet. Ruby tightened the embrace almost like she would never let go, not even if she was being forced away from him.

"I… I… I thought… You… You had died." Ruby said between sobs.

"The…. Best part… Of… Being apart… Is… Getting… Back together." James said very weakly but managed a weak smile with it as well.

"Ma'am we are going to have to tell you to step aside. His condition is only getting worse and we need to get him to a medical ship. Now."

Ruby looked at the man and hesitated, but slowly got up to leave James. James looked at all three teams and smiled. All of them had come to his aid. James spotted Weiss who looked very depressed and very hurt. James slowly trudged over to her and placed his good hand on her shoulder.

"You… Followed orders… You did… Well." James smiled again. "Let… No one… tell you… You abandoned your mission… You completed it… With surgical… Precision."

Weiss nodded and smiled. "Thank you. It means a lot to hear that from you. I'm glad you got back in one piece."

James smile became a big grin. "One piece… But… Not at all… Healthy."

"Sir, we have to get you to a doctor." James nodded and ruffled up Weiss' hair. "Hey!" James flashed her a thumbs up and walked with the man to the medical unit.


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

_**A/N: D: Jump cut!**_

"Team captain James, are you and your team ready?"

James looked back to see his now four man team consisting of James, Noriko, Paige, and now Jessica. "You know it Goodwitch." Glynda kept a straight face at James' remark.

"Then, let the match begin." Glynda walked off the stage and four Beowulves materialized. James nodded at his partner, Noriko. She instantly got his queue. The other pair already rushed into combat attempting to dispatch the first two monsters on the right.

James lunged forward freezing a path between the first Beowulf, trapping it in place in ice that ran up its leg in a jagged formation. Noriko rolled over James' back and unleashed Dual Fury using both knives attached to string it took out the Beowulf fluidly.

The second Beowulf had shifted behind James, he reacted with lighting fast reflexes and put his sword into pistol formation, his chamber automatically spun making a loud metallic click sound, with a swift sweep James put his bullet between the monster's eyes. The Beowulf froze in its tracks and slumped to the floor before exploding into shiny crystals the computer generated.

By the time James was able to look over, the other two Beowulves had already been dispatched. "Match over." Glynda called from in front of the stage. "Magnificent display. You all receive an A plus. Please get prepared and go to the main hall for the graduation ceremony."

James only nodded as he led his team of stage and to the locker rooms. Ruby was waiting outside the locker rooms waiting for James and his team to return. "You guys were incredible!" Ruby exclaimed pulling James into a hug.

"You guys weren't so bad yourself." Noriko commented.

"I was kind of hoping for at lest an Ursa. Fighting Beowulves are too easy." Jessica admitted defeated.

James let out a laugh. "Don't worry about that. We're official huntsmen now. We'll have missions soon enough."

Years had past since Cinder had made an attack on Beacon, when she did she was met by Weiss who had used her glyphs to imprison her she was then transported to a military base deep underground where she could never escape and was imprisoned for the rest of her days.

Roman on the other hand, was killed by Blake. Yang had hit by a direct blast from his explosive cane that knocked her into one of the old cobblestone pillars in the front of the academy. Yang's imprint is still carved into the old stone; it was a miracle the old pillar didn't fall. In a fit of rage Blake lunged at Roman who was unsuspecting of a strike, he barely had time to deflect her first swing with his cane; the second one however pierced his heart. He was left to bleed out as Blake tried to repel the incoming wave of White Fang members.

The whole incident left Blake with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which she was seeking help for. Just by looking at her, you couldn't tell it affected her but Yang could see right through it. Blake was constantly a nervous wreck. Every time Blake would pick up Gambol Shroud, she would just stare at it with wide eyes, though it became less and less a trigger as the years past.

Yang spent many months just comforting Blake as she tried to get past what she did. In everyone else's eyes she was a hero, in her eyes she was a murder, a monster that was on the loose. In the time that she was like this her and Yang's relationship only deepened, as Yang never left her side those three years.

"I don't care what you _think _you did. I love you no matter what you do, what your flaws are, or who you will become, because to me, you will always be the same Blake that I first fell in love with. The same Blake that sleeps with me in bed every night, the same Blake who I've kissed several times." Yang's speech brought Blake to tears that night, as they both lay in bed, tight in each other's embrace.

After the three years James and Ruby are still in a relationship, every night Ruby kept her word of sleeping next to James every night until she said she didn't want to. Everything was pretty "normal" for the entire group; nothing dramatic had happened since Cinder was arrested, it was truly a time of peace, save for the White Fang protests. The White Fang was no under new leadership so there was no longer violent riots in the streets, but rather peaceful protest.

"James do you have time after the ceremony?" Ruby asked quickly.

"Yeah. I think so. Why?" James was confused; Ruby was fidgeting a lot, playing with her hands, pressing her index fingers together, and looking just overall flustered.

"There is… Um… Well… There is something I want to show you." Ruby said nervously, she tried to play cool like she had the situation under control, but it was obvious she was nervous. Ruby almost _shook _with nervousness. Obviously something dire was on her mind. What James didn't know is that Ruby was also gripping a small black velvet box in her skirt pocket.

The ceremony was held in the main hall that was quite spacious with a wide interior and a tall ceiling and marble pillars through out the hall; it felt like decades since James was last here for the entrance ceremony. It was a nice ceremony, for the most part. To James it was rather boring, but yet he still understood the importance of both Glynda's and Ozpin's words.

"I stand before you all and see a bright group of huntsmen and huntresses. You all have proven that you are ready to take on the responsibilities of defenders of the world. Glynda and I hope to see you all working to better humanity and its efforts to survive in such a dark world, with out people like you, we would be without defense, we would be in mortal danger. We would simply cease to exist. Huntsmen and Huntresses are a way to show that humanity still stands tall. Good luck to you all. For the last time at Beacon, you are dismissed."

From anywhere inside the hall you could see hats and capes (there might have even been a dog at one point) flying into the air as everyone let out a loud cheer. There cheers eventually faded as people began to pour out of the hall and back to their respective dorms to collect their personal belongings and head to wherever they wanted to be. As for James he remembered he had to meet Ruby on Beacon cliff.

Ruby was already there standing at the ledge looking over the huge green forest known as the Emerald Forest, the forest in a way looked a lot like the Forever Fall Forest, but less red. It was very expansive and went on for miles, littered with old ruins and caves to be discovered. To add to the serenity of the scene the sun had started to set, giving the entire forest and orange tint.

"Hi Ruby, so what was it you wanted to show me?" Ruby froze, hearing James' voice made her nervous even after the hours of practice she has had. No matter how many times she repeated it, it didn't sound natural.

"Uh… Yeah, about that. I… wanted to know if…" Ruby went down on one knee on the freshly cut green grass in the middle of her sentence. "I-If you'd… Marry me?" Ruby asked pulling the black velvet box from her pocket and opening it while extending her arms.

James took a step back, not expecting the proposal. James looked at Ruby, then the box, then back to Ruby again. James hesitated for a second. "Of course I will!" He exclaimed. Ruby quickly got up from her place on the ground and pulled James into a hug swinging him around lightly. The capped girl was stronger than she looked.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ruby said in pure joy as she refused to let James go as if he would disappear if she let go. Tears started to slowly come from the girl's eyes, though, this time however, they were tears of joy.

"You know. This kinda puts my plan to shame." James laughed lightly. Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked with an eyebrow raised.

James pulled a similar box out of his coat pocket. "I was going to ask you the same question, but in front of our teams… However, I think this moment was better." James broke the hug and went down on one knee. "Just to be coherent. Ruby Rose, will you marry me?"

"Well I dunno…" Ruby said jokingly then wrapped James in another warm embrace. "Of course I will."

"Then it's settled. We're to be married." James reassured taking Ruby's hands in his own. They both stared into each other's eyes, getting lost before their lips crashed together. There was no battle for dominance; it was a plain, simple, _blissful_ kiss. The two soon parted.

"Well. Shall we finish moving out of our dorms?" James asked light heartedly. Ruby nodded her head in agreement. James took Ruby's hand in his and walked towards the dorms, luckily, the two-team dorms weren't far from each other.

It looks like their adventures have only began.


	32. Finale

Chapter 31

_**A/N: Guys! I'm sad too! ;_; the last ever chapter of Adventures of Team JPN. It was a fun ride! But finally, it seems we have came to the end. It's just SO SAD! But… There may be a Vol 2….**_

James sat outside his new home in a chair on the third floor balcony. His home is now the Schnee manor that was built for Weiss when she became a huntress. Sadly the house was too huge for just one huntress, so as a wedding gift, she offered Mr and Mrs Grey a room in the house as well as Mrs and Mrs Long the same deal. Yang and Blake had their wedding just weeks after James and Ruby's.

The Schnee manor was a large breath-taking house made out of a white stone that James couldn't identify, maybe it was marble. The house had several pillars holding up the Balcony on the third and fourth floor. Ruby said she felt like she was living in the white house. There were fourteen rooms on each floor; they all had a central living area as well as four bed and baths and the others were miscellaneous storage rooms and closets. Ruby and James took up residence on the third floor while Yang and Blake took the second floor, as did Weiss on the opposite side of the house.

The bottom floor had a large dinning and kitchen room built just off to the sides of the large entrance. Then a door behind the staircase revealed a sound proof training room that anyone was free to use.

Ruby walked out onto the balcony with James, grabbing his arm and leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's a nice morning isn't it?" Ruby asked sleepily.

James nodded his head in agreement, trying to take in the peace of the sunrise. Ruby poked James in the side. "Did you know Yang and Blake are adopting a child?" She questioned.

"Already huh? Ha, I'm sure they'd make good parents. Those two are crazy if you ask me." James commented.

"Well, you'd better get your act together too." Ruby hinted with a wink.

"Hey! What?! What did you just say?!" James said frantically searching for his own answer while spitting out the tea he was drinking.

"You're going to be a parent soon as well." Ruby giggled. James looked at Ruby with wide eyes then took her hands in his.

"Oh my god… Your pregnant!" He exclaimed with a sort of half joy half shock moment. Ruby pulled James into a hug with a few tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm going to be a father huh?" James said wishfully.

"And I'm going to be a mother…" Ruby returned. The soft shakes of Ruby's sobs made James think about what this meant. A child being raised by them, how would they even act? What school would they go to? How would they afford for their child, well that was obvious, being a huntsmen. But then, would James be there for the child's birthdays? What would Ruby do? Would she still be a huntress? Well, yeah that was obvious too; she would never abandon her dream.

The two broke the embrace leaving Ruby with puffy eyes. "I love you James." Ruby said with a large smile.

"I love you too Ruby. I wonder if our kid will turn out like us? Quirky, weird, sometimes introverted, but good natured and smart?" James wondered aloud.

"Only if we raise them that way, and we're _both _there for them… But, I'm sure they'll turn out fine. Hopefully they wont have a weird addiction to the color orange though." Ruby jabbed.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" James replied with a laugh.

"All I'm saying is, it's a weird color to like. I mean, I see red, black, yellow, white, blue, grey, but not orange! Its odd!" Ruby answered.

"Odd, like wearing a dress in combat?" James jabbed back.

"It's a combat skirt!" Ruby replied with a pout. Somewhere James swore he heard Weiss yell the same thing in unison.

"Well… Maybe we should…" James was cut off by two people standing in the lawn of the manor.

"Hey! Love birds! Did you forget about us already?!" The first figure yelled.

"We came all this way to see you! It was like, a block!" The second figure yelled.

Ruby turned to James. "Hey, remember what you asked last night? 'I wonder what my old team is doing?' Well, there is your answer." Ruby giggled.

"We'll be right down!" James called down. James gestured for ladies first to Ruby. Ruby took the queue and began to walk to the door. The two began their walk down the stairs.

"I'm impressed that your friends can yell that loud." Ruby commented. James laughed in response.

"I'm sure a lot of things they do would either impress you or disturb you. Either way, they _are _a unique couple." James commented before they reached the bottom floor. James opened the door for the two outside to come in.

"Hey strangers, how have you two been?" Paige asked being the first to walk through the door with Noriko not far behind.

"We aren't doing too bad. In fact right now, I think we're doing excellent." Ruby nudged James in the shoulder causing him to look over at her.

'_DO NOT TELL THEM!' _Ruby mouthed to James, to which his reply was raising both his hands in the sky like he was surrendering. The caused both Noriko and Paige to either cock their head to the side or raise an eyebrow.

"Ruby, you look really well. I haven't seen you since our wedding." Paige said now standing in front of Ruby.

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." Ruby offered back. Paige looked happy at her response. Noriko hung back, looking as if she was snared in place. James walked over and looked down at Noriko's legs to see a small set of hands gripped around her calf.

James laughed at the sight. "So, who is this?" James asked crouching down and looing up at Noriko.

"It's okay to come out. They're our friends." Noriko said trying to coax the child out of hiding. The child only peeked her head out from behind Noriko to reveal a small face with long golden hair and two ears perched on top of her head and a small grey dress that was lightly detailed with a floral pattern near the neck area.

"This is Jamie." Noriko said to James. Paige and Ruby seemed to be locked in a conversation about sweets and bakeries. James smiled at the little girl.

"Its very nice to meet you Jamie. I'm James. Its an honor." James said.

"H…H-Hi." The little girl said back in a scared tone. James stood back up and looked back to Noriko.

"So you two adopted as well?" James asked.

"Yep, and I don't think we could have made a better choice. She is so well behaved, but sometimes I worry. Being a Faunus as a kid in orphan house must not have been easy… I think she was teased a lot. But… Wait, what do you mean _too_?"

"Yang and Blake have decided to adopt as well. Ruby seems really excited about it." James answered. "So what has the family been up to?" James asked.

"Nothing much, just sitting at home, going on the occasional call and watching little Jamie grow up." Noriko admitted.

"Its an incredible time isn't it? I mean, there is no current wars, the Grimm are mostly at bay. The Huntsmen are doing their jobs perfectly." James added.

"What about you James? Are _you _doing okay?" Noriko asked now concerned. She was always one to know if someone was feeling off. James stepped forward and brought Noriko into an embrace.

"I've missed you guys so much." James finally admitted. "I miss our crazy, stupid adventures together. But I have a home, a wife, and a new team now. I just feel I was always in the wrong leaving you all." James said solemnly.

A hand rested on James' shoulder. It was Paige; she patted his shoulder a few times and then walked over beside her wife and kid. "You left us for the love of your life. You left to protect her. We may have been a tiny bit dissatisfied with your choice, but we can see now that it was all worth it. You two are a family now. If anything, we understand. Now that we have a little girl, we realize why you left. You're forgiven."

"Paige is right James." Noriko added. "Through the guidance _you _gave us at the academy, we were able to build our lives. Sculpt them into masterpieces. Truth is, we miss you a lot too, you were like the more responsible younger brother we never had. You gave us hope when we lost faith. And really the birds must leave the nest at some point. You were our best instructor, even surpassing the teachers themselves. We forgive you for the choice you made. You wanted a better life, but left us with all of your wisdom, if you can call it that. We made it out alright."

Ruby had joined James by his side, holding his hand. James looked down at the woman he called his wife. Then back to his teammates. "Yeah… It was one hell of a ride wasn't it? I think our team of all of them, had the highest injury rate." James laughed at the disappointing accolade. "Yet, we all survived. Hell maybe it was our uncanny luck. Maybe it was a divine force guiding us. But one thing is for sure. The adventures of team JPN just might not be over yet."

At this point the entirety of the population of the Schnee manor was in the living room. Ruby suddenly looked at James and started pulling him back towards the stairs. "Hey- gah, Ruby wait! What are you doing? Where are we going?" James asked as he was being pulled up the stairs. The two reached the top of the stairs and looked triumphantly down at the crowd of people.

"Every one here in attendance I would like to make an announcement!" Ruby exclaimed with excitement. James took a look at Ruby and leaned over to whisper to her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" James whispered to Ruby. She nodded in response.

"They'll learn sooner or later." Ruby admitted. Ruby turned her attention to the crowd once again. "Everyone! I… Am… Pregnant!" She exclaimed. The crowd stood still in shock at Ruby's words, while one of the occupants was being restless and marching her way towards the two. It was Yang.

"James! You got my little sister pregnant!" Yang yelled with a joking anger. Now marching up the stairs James started to panic.

"Uh…" James looked at Ruby who was laughing hysterically. "I'm going to run now!" James sprinted down the stairs and onto the railing before Yang could get up to him. He vaulted himself down to the floor from the stairs and proceeded to run out the door.

"James! Get your _ass _back here! I need a word with you!" Yang shouted again in the joking anger. Yang proceeded to run after James. Blake shook her head with disapproval with her forehead in her palm. Blake did the courteous thing to do. She walked half way up the steps where Ruby met her halfway.

"Congratulations Ruby. What will you name it?" Blake asked with curiosity.

Ruby laughed. "Well… If James would allow it, if it were a girl I want to name her Summer. And if it's a boy I would like to name him Jeremy." Ruby replied back scratching her head nervously.

"Those are both excellent names." Blake complimented. "I think no matter what gender they will be, they will be an excellent addition to your family."

"Thank you Blake. I'm sure they will as well." Ruby noted. Ruby's stomach growled loudly. "I guess I'm kind of hungry since I didn't eat breakfast. We should go eat." Ruby decided. Blake nodded her head in agreement.

James' words stuck in everybody's minds. The words that will never escape from their minds. It was now their label every time they would go out as a team again.

_**The Adventures of Team JPN.**_


End file.
